Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneFifteen seedlings up on 1 June, one to a cell and half the cells still bare, each holding out a pair of notch-tipped seed leaves under its first true pair — the whole tray so pale it is nearly yellow, and algae greening the older cells.Week of 31 AugustSweet basil on 3 September, its leaves in opposite pairs that turn a quarter circle at every node up the square hairy stems, and a stacked whorl of green flower bracts now forming at every single shoot tip.Week of 14 SeptemberSeveral hundred loose green leaves dry in a single layer on a white cotton cloth on 16 September, most still paired on short sprigs, their quilted surfaces sinking between veins and curling gray-green at the edges. Flat indoor light, no shadows.
