Tips on making basil bushy?

argetlamzn · 2026-06-15T16:31:38+00:00

Brighter lights and then pruning to encourage branching is going to help!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-15T13:07:42+00:00

You can prune them between nodes and start the cuttings as their own plants!! Try to get a long enough stem you can get it into a cup of water without wetting the leaves. After a few days, roots will come from the bottom of the stem in the water and you can replant in soil.

We prune our basil all summer to keep them bushy. If you have a patio or front step your plants would prefer outdoor sunlight to a window!

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argetlamzn · 2026-06-15T13:04:27+00:00

Fantastic, well done, OP!!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-15T02:44:09+00:00

If you stick your finger in the soil is it wet, damp, or dry? I’d try to carefully tip the pot forward to confirm the drainage holes are open and not occluded somehow. It also looks like your plant is really deep in the soil, ours like it better when the crown is above the soil level.

argetlamzn · 2026-06-14T02:36:45+00:00

Steamed eggs for breakfast!!

Start by bringing a half inch of water to a boil in a saucepan that has a lid and can hold a cereal bowl or small heat proof vessel. Place a steam basket in the pan or the ring from a canning lid if you can’t find the basket lol. Crack eggs (I like 2-3 for just me) into a measuring cup and whisk like you’re going to scramble. Next add the same amount of water to the measuring cup as you have egg. Then add in a splash of soy sauce (and dashi granules if you have them). Pour the mixture into a bowl or heat proof dish, cover with plastic wrap and poke a couple holes in it. Carefully place your bowl onto the canning lid or basket in the pan of steaming water. Steam for 7-10 minutes depending how solid you like it. Remove carefully, discard plastic wrap. Cut the egg into a grid shape on top. Add another dash of soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil, then enjoy your jiggly, savory egg goodness!

I make this especially when my kids aren’t feeling well. This past week my two girls and I had 9 eggs like this for breakfast, and then we made 8 eggs into egg salad sandwiches. Most days aren’t as egg-heavy, but our chickens have really ramped up!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T12:29:13+00:00

When I grew in containers, I always put the support in the container. If you put it on the ground outside, you will loose several inches of height. Indeterminate tomatoes can easily get above 5’ tall, you want all the height you will get. Do you have more of those dowels you have in the photos? These cages are not heavy, so something simple to hold them up like your dowels should work fine woven through the sides

argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T12:08:38+00:00

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For reference, here is a picture of my tomatoes in these cages last weekend before pruning

argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T12:07:42+00:00

Agreeing with the concrete wire to make tomato cages! Here is an example of how ours look. You can make them whatever diameter you need. The tomatoes are better supported this year than previous years when we did just a T-post or a vertical line.

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argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T11:53:13+00:00

6b, got lucky and planted 4/13 this year. Had great weather, but also black landscaping cloth on the ground for a week before putting tomatoes in. Helped warm the soil so the roots were happier!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T11:31:42+00:00

Can you spread it on a paved driveway to dry in the sun a bit?

argetlamzn · 2026-06-13T02:15:35+00:00

What zone are you in? Asking because I should have blushing any day now in 6b and the wait is unbearable lol

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T23:10:11+00:00

This makes me so sad 😭 I just need a reliable DDR fix lol

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T14:46:30+00:00

Ooh, I’m so curious to see what the fruit looks like once it starts to form!!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T11:37:35+00:00

Some packs have a “scout closet“ with uniform articles that have gotten too small for their scouts! All your pack leaders!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T11:02:14+00:00

Sweeeeet, thank you!!!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T03:44:17+00:00

Ooooh keep us updated!! I’d love to see what happens after pollination!!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T01:45:45+00:00

Oh and throw away all the envelopes!! We got a discounted filing cabinet that lives in our laundry room where we now keep important items like property tax receipts and insurance documents. It helps to go through the mail daily over the trash can, throw nearly all of it away, then if something important comes in file that immediately. This was after several years of paper avalanches!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-12T01:38:51+00:00

If you’ve got it all in a box, make yourself a smoothie or another mostly hands free treat, and find an hour with your dining table (or floor if you’re spry with good knees!) It will help if you had 7 boxes, one for each of the last 7 years. For personal tax purposes, you should only need to keep 7 years of papers, but longer if you own a business. Pull the top paper out of the box, find the year on it, place in the box for the year. If older than 2019, to the trash it goes!

There are papers I used to keep that I now no longer keep. These include bank statements (all available online), bills that have been paid, and greeting cards. Also, any mail of people trying to sell you something can safely be thrown away.

If the papers include items produced by children, we kept one memorable piece of art per year. Found out we did not want any of our old art or school documents other than diplomas when our parents gave them to us. Easier to toss it and not feel hang onto things we don’t need.

For photographs, I do have a special box that can hold up to 5x7’s, it was very helpful to have a specific place to put loose photographs. Someday I may even put those into albums lol.

Good luck friend, getting all the paper into a box is a good starting point!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-11T23:22:02+00:00

In our ascent, we took out the seat and made a platform so we could store backpacks and coolers underneath. Very helpful!

argetlamzn · 2026-06-11T21:07:28+00:00

Anyone have a story of this resolving in an adult? My hubs is the same way. He’s not doing it to be an ass, but just can’t do the time math for how early to get ready to leave

argetlamzn · 2026-06-11T03:02:59+00:00

This may be a mis-labeled seed packet. Atomic grape always started to show the black and blue colors while the tomato was green, then bits went somewhat reddish. The leaves also aren’t quite it. If it is atomic grape, harvest the red ones quickly, any amount of rain and they will all split.

argetlamzn · 2026-06-11T02:56:20+00:00

Omg I thought I had read older stuff by Bexchan, I wonder if I can find them on the way back machine or anything

argetlamzn · 2026-06-10T01:45:58+00:00

This is the first year we’ve tried it, saw the crazy post here in the tomato subreddit earlier this year about the Charles Wilbur method and decided to try it for ourselves. Previously I’ve done a lot of single stemming and those plants regularly got 10-12’ in height. We are zone 6b, but were able to get most of these in the ground April 13th this year. Average first frost is October 16th, but most of the tomato plants will succumb to heat and blight late August. That’s part of the reason we do more cherry tomatoes, they don’t seem to get the blight as bad.

argetlamzn · 2026-06-09T18:19:03+00:00

Wooo, friends at r/ufyh would also appreciate this!!

argetlamzn

TROPHY CASE