I bought a six pack of basil starts today. I'm in MA. Probability of frost is high until I think around mid-May - yet this spring has been insanely warm. I just checked the weather forecast for this area, and the lowest low predicted for the next 5 days is high 30s (highs are in upper 50s and low 60s).
The biggest problem I think is a lack of sunlight in my house. Every seedling or seed I have tried to nurture in this house has died. We have no sunny windowsills. I can get about an hour of afternoon sun on one corner of the kitchen table. The south and east side of our house is mountain forest (that is, not only is there forest, but it's steeply uphill from our house and only 20-40 feet away).
So I'm just wondering, would I be crazy to put these things outside?
Should I put them outside in the day and just bring them in at night?
Is there some really basic cold frame I could do - like a tupperware bowl placed over the starts (propped on bricks or something so the bowl doesn't touch, obviously).
I suspect this is a dumb question but I really want to nurture these things and hopefully get them in the ground in a few weeks. (I could plant them tomorrow but I assume it's too early).
I meant to wait before buying anything but I was there, the basil was there, what could I do.
Also... another question. Do you think literal attention and love could make a difference to the basil? I used to be a green thumb, could nurse a plant back to health, etc. But since I had DD, my plants all die. I sometimes think that my vital force goes into DD, I'm growing her. And more literally, I don't pay any attention to my plants, I just pour water when I think of it and that's it. I used to spend a few minutes a day with them. But maybe I'm crazy and it's just the lack of sunlight in the house (we moved here and I got pregnant, so I've pretty much been growing DD ever since moving here).
I really. Really. Really. want to nurture these basil plants. I killed the ones I started last year. I'm trying a new location in the yard this year. I just don't know what to do.
The biggest problem I think is a lack of sunlight in my house. Every seedling or seed I have tried to nurture in this house has died. We have no sunny windowsills. I can get about an hour of afternoon sun on one corner of the kitchen table. The south and east side of our house is mountain forest (that is, not only is there forest, but it's steeply uphill from our house and only 20-40 feet away).
So I'm just wondering, would I be crazy to put these things outside?
Should I put them outside in the day and just bring them in at night?
Is there some really basic cold frame I could do - like a tupperware bowl placed over the starts (propped on bricks or something so the bowl doesn't touch, obviously).
I suspect this is a dumb question but I really want to nurture these things and hopefully get them in the ground in a few weeks. (I could plant them tomorrow but I assume it's too early).
I meant to wait before buying anything but I was there, the basil was there, what could I do.
Also... another question. Do you think literal attention and love could make a difference to the basil? I used to be a green thumb, could nurse a plant back to health, etc. But since I had DD, my plants all die. I sometimes think that my vital force goes into DD, I'm growing her. And more literally, I don't pay any attention to my plants, I just pour water when I think of it and that's it. I used to spend a few minutes a day with them. But maybe I'm crazy and it's just the lack of sunlight in the house (we moved here and I got pregnant, so I've pretty much been growing DD ever since moving here).
I really. Really. Really. want to nurture these basil plants. I killed the ones I started last year. I'm trying a new location in the yard this year. I just don't know what to do.
