One of the fresh herbs that is not really easy to get here in the Netherlands is Thai Basil. Nope, that is not the basil that is used in a lot of Italian dishes. This is the distinct liquorice tasting leave that is used in a lot of Vietnamese kitchens.
When using it, you use a lot. So just getting two or three branches doesn't make any sense. Bulks is what we need and it is never here.
I was more than surprised to see that at one day my local supermarket had a plant of it standing there. Of course I snagged one along with me, and after that specific day when I bought one, I also never saw it again anymore.
That means that I have to be really careful with my plant and make sure I will grow bigger bushes from it and create even more. I know a couple of friends love this as well, so this will be a total share the love kind of situation when there is more.
But it also means that project expansion as started while eating it. I mean...after all you have this little plant so you can eat it right?
How it started
Now the first thing you always have to do to all of the supermarket herb plants you buy is separate the stems. These guys are with too many in a pot and they need room to live.
I gave them a decent pot but the thing known as 'transplant shock' took days. These guys were hanging over and I didn't know if I had killed everything entirely and if I overwatered or underwatered them. This bush was really super sensitive to all of the changing.
Eventually it all came by and this went back into growing into a healthy bush again. I cut some tops and put them in water to see if they would also propagate easily.
This root fest was the result of 3 weeks in the water. Holy crap, this is perfect!
After this I decided to really go for it. I needed the Thai Basil in my dish for the evening but also wanted to cut the stems so they will multiply and be able to use more of the fresh cuttings to create more little plants.
So I cut a couple of the branches above the junction so they will make double new leaves.
From those cut branches I used all the lower leaves for in my food, and these fresh cuttings were ready to be propagated again. Yes this is a whole puzzle when you are also trying to cook food at the same time.
The best hack ever!
Now I saw this hack a while back somewhere on the interwebz of using a piece of a net where your onions or oranges are in when you buy them at the store.
Take a small glass, put a part of the net around it and with a rubber band make sure it is still into place. The rubber bands come from the spring onion that are always in rubber bands when you get them.
Because of this little net the cutting will not drown in your glass but only have the roots hanging in the water. Looks perfect right?
This is exactly the way what worked on that awesome previous branch so I will totally use it this time again. After all...I have to keep this stuff alive because you can't get it so easy.
This next snap is a couple hours later which means the stems are not drooping at all and this bush really wants to thrive again as well.
Besides that. Cups with cuttings look super cute standing on the table, but hey..that just may be me ;)
Fooooood
And it was time for some food. After all, this whole propagating experiment was because I wanted to use and eat the Thai Basil in my dish.
I used this recipe as a base for cooking something and of course gave it a twist on what was here.
Using the bokchoi that was propagated from the garden as well and also some spring onion that are also on their third life by now, cutting them back every time just above the ground.
There is so much more easy stuff to do with plants than I had ever realized, you just need to take some time and get it all going and that 1 little plant will give you everything for the summer eventually (and maybe even winter, but who knows).