Are you thinking about growing basil in the Click and Grow Smart garden, but not sure what’s involved?
Check out our latest tutorial on how to grow three different types of basil in the Click and Grow Smart Garden 3. We cover each step in the planting phase from planting the seeds to watching your sprouts grow.
Table of Contents
I love to run little experiments in my indoor gardens, so this will be a good way to compare the different growing habits of each type of basil side by side.
The three different types of basil I’ll be growing are:
- Dwarf Basil
- Lemon Basil
- Genevese Basil
Basil is a natural for indoor gardening. It grows fast, is easy to harvest, and has a variety of kitchen uses.
I ordered the 3-pack refills of the dwarf basil and lemon basil pods. I had plenty of Genovese basil seeds from a recent order from Southern Seeds. So, I will test out the experimental Grow anything pods to plant the Genevese basil.
Prerequisites
Keeping a Clean Growing Environment.
Before planting your herb pods, always clean your Click & Grow Garden and the plastic growing pods, and wash your hands.
When growing indoors, keeping your tools and planting materials clean is essential and prevents problems down the road. You don’t want to accidentally introduce other organic matter into the growing pods.
Even if you just received your garden, rinse it off and wipe it down with a clean cloth to remove any dust from the manufacturing process, ensuring a super clean growing environment.
The Reusable Plastic Planting Cups
You will reuse the plastic cups and clear humidity domes each time you plant a new herb in the Click & Grow.
The Click & Grow product line is designed to be environmentally friendly. You can see it in everything from their packaging to how the pods are designed to reduce waste. So instead of shipping new plastic containers each time, you will receive only the plant pods in the package.
The plastic cups that were shipped with your Smart Garden will be reused each time you plant. After your herbs or flowers have reached the end of their growing cycle, you will remove the plant material and clean the empty cups to get them ready for your next set of seeds.
I wanted to mention this early to make sure you don’t throw them away when removing plants that have reached maturity. You’ll need them again! If you need more Smart Garden plastic cups, you can order them from Click & Grow.
Planting The Click & Grow Pods
There are six steps to planting basil in the Click & Grow Smart Garden. It is super simple.
- Prepare the pods
- Label each plant
- Add them to your garden
- Place the humidity dome
- Plug it in
- Add water
We’ll go through each step below.
My Materials List
You will need the following to grow basil in the Click & Grow:
- The Click & Grow Smart Garden
- Access to electricity
- Click & Grow reusable plastic plant cups + domes
- At least 3 plant pods. Shown above are the 3 packs for Dwarf Basil, Lemon Basil, and the Experimental pods with my own seeds for Genevese Basil.
- Pen/Pencil for labeling
Next, it’s time to get growing. I’ll outline the individual steps with pictures so you can follow along when you plant your own herbs.
Step 1: Prepare the Cartridges.
I’m going to start with the Dwarf Basil. Open the package and place each pod in the plastic growing cup.
Close the lid by twisting it either to the left or right until it locks in place. If you are planting just one of the pods in the 3-pack like I am, reseal the package to keep the remaining grow pods fresh.
Step 2: Label Your Herbs
Label each herb pod using a pencil, pen, or thin marker. Even if you are growing just a single variety, this is a good habit to get into whenever growing seeds.
Step 3: Put the growing pods in the Click & Grow container.
Arrange the herbs based on growing height and or color combination.
In this example, I’ve placed the Dwarf basil on the left-hand side where the lighting arm is since it will be shorter. I will plant the lighter yellowish-green lemon basil in the center to add a bit of color contrast. The taller Genevese basil goes in the outside planting cup.
I’ll repeat each step for the Lemon and Genovese basil until all three types of basil are planted.
Step 4: Add a dome on top of each pod.
This keeps the moisture and warmth in the pod and helps to speed germination. Basil, in particular, likes to be warm and will sprout best when the temperature is about 70 degrees.
Step 5: Plug in your Click and Grow.
I always like to use a surge protector power strip whenever I leave electric gadgets plugged in. Safety first!
The light will start flashing when you first plug in your Click & Grow. This is normal, and it is just letting you know the garden is out of water, which we will take care of in the next step.
Step 6: Fill the reservoir with water.
The Click & Grow 3 can hold up to 5 cups of water. Pour the water into the long slot on the right side of the garden.
The instructions caution against overwatering, so it helps to use a liquid measuring cup. Or keep an eye on the water level, so it doesn’t go over the plastic guide sitting in the watering slot. Once it starts to float, it’s time to stop watering.
And that’s it. Next up is to wait for the seedlings to sprout.
You can optionally download the app on your phone and activate your garden online, but this is not required for growing.
Watching Your Basil Grow
Basil germinates pretty quickly, so I expected to see sprouts in about 3-5 days. And sure enough, the basil germinated right on schedule.
Update Day 5 – I Removed the Plastic Domes
When your basil seeds start to sprout, it’s time to closely monitor them and remove the humidity domes.
The first sign of growth for me was on day 3. I could see a little green peeking out from the seeds. I waited to remove the plastic dome until the seedlings straightened out and reached up into the dome.
If you remove them too early, the seedlings could dry out & too late, they may suffocate. You have a few days grace period while the baby seedlings are growing. I removed them a little early (to take photos!).
You can wait until they get a tiny bit bigger, but remove them before your seedlings reach the top of the dome. On average, this will be between Day 5 and 10 after planting your basil seeds.
Update Day 9 After Planting
A few days later, all three basil plants were growing nicely. In the photo below, you can see how many plants are growing in each pod. Each stem is a separate plant. I counted each, just for fun:
- Dwarf Basil – 10 sprouts
- Lemon Basil – 23 sprouts
- Genovese Basil – 12 sprouts
There may be more growing up in the next few days. I’ll post updates as the plants grow larger so you can see their progress.
Are You Ready To Grow More Basil?
One of the easiest ways to start an indoor herb garden is by using a hydroponic herb garden kit. And the Click and Grow Smart Garden 3 is one of the simplest ones to get up a growing, especially when growing a few herbs in your kitchen.
As you can tell from this article, there are only a few steps to getting started. After planting your herb garden, your first harvest takes just about 30 days. If you don’t have this fun little gadget, get your Click & Grow Smart Garden today.
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