A tragedy in my shady balcony garden:** My basil plant died! One day it was totally healthy, the next day a little wilty, then the day after that, totally wilted and dead!

After consulting this handy guide to basil diseases (PDF),** I’m pretty sure the basil died due to gray mold. Perhaps I should’ve harvested some of the basil leaves earlier on. The big leaves could have created a too-shady covering for the stem, which never quite got any sun to dry out after watering — and thus developed the mold.

My other hypothesis is that I watered the plant too often, thereby making the basil’s living area constantly damp-ish, thereby attracting the mold and killing the plant. However, I only watered the thing once a day — I only do dishes once a day,** after all. Could that really have been too much water? After the basil died, I looked up an article on how to grow basil — yes, I realize this article would’ve been more useful before I actually killed the basil — which recommends weekly watering. That weekly recommendation’s for basil planted in the ground; the article says basil in pots should be watered more often — but doesn’t say exactly how much more often….

I’m discouraged because basil’s supposed to be an easy herb to grow. I’m very jealous of Leslie at The Oko Box, whose basil’s thriving in her herb garden.** Her garlic chive and sage are doing well too!

But I haven’t given up yet. In fact, Apartment Therpay’s running apoll right now on whether urban gardeners go slow and steady or seek instant gratification** — and I chose slow and steady, since it seems I need to readjust my gardening expectations for occasional plant killing and re-starting.

Armed now with more information than I wanted about how to grow basil, I’m now going to buy a new basil plant and start over. I’ll water only twice a week, taking care not to get any water on the plant itself — not even the base of the stem!

The rest of the plants are doing well, though a couple of the lettuces don’t seem to be growing at all, even if they are still clinging on to life. Wish me luck — and please give me any gardening advice you think would be helpful!

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