Many thanks to everyone who braved the weather and came out to the Denver Botanic Gardens’ Local Foods Festival! I really hope you enjoyed the day. If you picked up some of the organic basil I was giving out, here’s the growing info:

Organic Genovese Basil (classic Italian Basil)

Planting depth: 1/8 to 1/4 inch
Plant spacing: 8-12 inches
Days to maturity: 65-75
Soil Temp for germination: 70-85 degrees
Days to germination: 6-12
Sun: Full sun
Water: Moderate water

Dorothy Eberhard, a longtime volunteer at the Denver Botanic Gardens, stopped by my table and shared the following tips:

Start the seeds indoors in a soil-less, seed-starting mix. Sprinkle the seeds on top of the mix, then cover with 1/8 of an inch of seed-starting mix. “If they float to the surface when you water them,” she said, “just push them down.” Keep the soil moist and when they have sprouted about an inch or so high, transplant them to potting soil.

Dorothy puts seedlings into plastic four-pack containers (the kind you get nursery plants in) and places them in a foil tray in a sunny, south-facing window. She puts water in the bottom of the tray and also feeds it from above to encourage strong growth.

Keep the plants indoors until all threat of frost has passed, which in Denver is late May, then transplant them to your garden or to a container outside. Good luck, and thanks again for visiting SeedtoSpoon.com!