
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703110536

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

FROM TINY SEED TO TASTY PESTO ISN'T AS TOUGH AS IT SOUNDS

WHEN BASIL GOES in the garden, can pesto be far behind?

Many basil lovers look forward to the first pesto of the summer, but they need lots of basil plants to make the delectable condiment created from the sweet herb's leaves, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil.

Jeanne Hart Pettersen can tell you how to grow as many basil plants from seed as your heart desires, so you'll have as much pesto as you'd ever want, and you won't break the bank buying plants.

The author of a new booklet, ``Herb Propagation - A Basic Guide,'' Pettersen begins to grow her basil from seed in March. By May, she has big healthy plants to set out in the garden, all for the cost of a seed packet.

Pettersen, co-owner of Plants with a Purpose, which has been publishing booklets on gardening in Hampton Roads since 1993, gives directions for propagating more than 50 species of herbs in the newest booklet, published last month.

Among them are difficult herbs to propagate such as angelica and parsley. Angelica seeds have to be frozen for a couple of months, because it's a native of a cold climate.

Parsley seeds have to be soaked for 24 to 48 hours before planting. ``On top of that you have to discard the water,'' Pettersen warned, ``because the seed covering has a growth inhibitor in it. If you use the water on the seed, it won't allow the parsley to germinate.''

But growing basil from seed is another matter, she said. Basil is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Pettersen starts her herbs in a sun room that she has turned into a propagation room with the addition of fluorescent lights and heating coils to warm the seed beds, but you needn't go that far, she said.

``You need a room with a temperature of about 70 degrees, and you have that in most homes,'' she said.

Fill clean containers that can be watered from the bottom with a moist seed starting mix. Sprinkle the basil seeds on top and tamp them into the soil, Pettersen said. Although it is not necessary to cover the basil with soil, she often sprinkles a little sand on top to reduce ``damping off,'' the fungal disease that can cause seedlings to wilt and die.

``Before I got heating coils for the propagation room, I put seedlings on top of the refrigerator until they emerged,'' Pettersen noted.

The refrigerator top is just warm enough to give the seeds extra heat to help them germinate. But don't forget them and let them dry out, and remember to water from the bottom.

When the plants emerge in a week to 10 days, put them in a sunny window. They need six to eight hours of sunlight a day.

``It's not that expensive to get a little propagation unit, like a fluorescent light or what is called a plant light,'' Pettersen said. ``They both will work.''

When the basil plants get their second set of leaves, or true leaves, you can thin them or move them to individual pots. Begin to fertilize when the true leaves emerge. Pettersen uses fish emulsion or something like Miracle-Gro, mixed at about one-third to one-half the regular strength.

``Some people pinch the top out when they get a little older and a couple of inches tall to make the plants bushy.''

Don't put the plants outside until May, about the time you put in your tomatoes and peppers. ``Put them out too early and they sulk,'' she said.

And pesto will come in due time. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Jeanne Hart Pettersen has a new booklet on how to propagate herbs.

Graphic

FIND OUT MORE

The Tidewater Unit of the Herb Society of America will present a

class on herbs from 7 to 8:50 p.m. Tuesdays, March 11 to April 29,

at Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake. Call 549-5284.

The local herb society meets at 1 p.m. today at Norfolk Botanical

Garden.