Please find for sale 200+ fresh Dark Opal Basil seeds. One of the easiest herbs that you can grow, for me basil represents the taste of summer - grilled on fresh bread with somehome grown tomatoes, some olive oil and a pink of salt! Yum! Basil can be grown all year round - in winter it is happy in pots on a sunny window sill.

PLEASE NOTE: All orders received before 8pm (Mon-Fri) will be dispatched same day

SAVE PACKAGING MATERIALS  - SEE OTHER INTERESTING & UNUSUAL SEEDS & PLANTS IN MY SHOP

INSTRUCTIONS - TO SAVE PAPER I NO LONGER SEND OUT WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS TO CUSTOMERS. INSTRUCTIONS ARE BELOW SO PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS PAGE


Germination Guide

  • Sow on the surface of pots or trays of sieved general purpose comost.
  • Tamp gently to get good contact with compost
  • Do not cover the seeds with compost - light needed for germination
  • Mist the surface with water
  • Keep at around 20c (will germinate faster in winter on a heat mat if your heating goes off at night)
  • Cover the tray with a plastic bag, clingfilm or similar with a few air holes
  • Place in a bright spot out of direct sunlight.
  • Regulalry mist surface 
  • Germination takes from 7-10 days depending on conditions
  • Thin seedlings and pot on as required.  

Olly's General Guide to Seed Sowing!

I love sowing seeds and it runs in the family - dad, granddad and finally my great-granddad for whom the hobby helped him get over his experiences in the Great War. I still get a big kick when I see the first seedling poking through from a new plant that I have never sown before or been successful at. However, even the most experienced gardeners draw "blanks" from time to time. Whilst I sow all the seeds that I sell so I know that they are viable, some are trickier than others and problems can arise so here are some tips to make "blanks" few and far between:

1) Don’t Rush! Tempting though it is when that packet arrives in the post to simply bung the seeds in some compost!

2) Google and YouTube are your friends! Take some time so see the methods other people use to germinate the seed. 

3) Think Nature! What conditions do seeds face? For example a seed from a tropical plant will fall to the warm, wet and dark jungle floor. A seed from the mountains of Europe will fall to the floor in Autumn, then have to endure months of freezing temperatures before germinating in the spring. So as growers, what we are trying to do is to simulate the conditions that the seeds will naturally experience and there are plenty of tricks that can be done to short cut the processes somewhat.

4) Good compost pays dividends. The best investment you can make is to purchase three bags - one of potting compost, one of vermiculite and one of horticultural sand. With these three bags I can make up whatever soil type a particular seed likes (although for most seeds I find a 50/50 mix of compost and vermiculite works just fine) 

5) Rot is your enemy. The single biggest danger to seed germination is rot - either before or after "damping off" the seeds germinate. To reduce the risk, ensure you have good free draining soil mix and that it is moist but not wet. Unless the seed variety absolutely requires it I prefer NOT to cover my seeds trays with plastic bags, Whilst germination is often faster this way, it greatly increases the risk of rot. I prefer to place my seed trans inside a watertight plastic tray and water from the bottom - airflow over the surface reduces the risk.


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