Unlike mint, Basil grows best in full sun. Why dont you find a sunny spot for it? Probably getting plant would be more suitable for you. Plant them about a foot apart and try planting basil seeds between them. This way your childeren will see how a plant grows from seed. With your basil, let it grow about10 inches then cut from top of each branch roughly 3-4 inches, just about a quarter of inch above where two leaves are accross each other. In a few days two branche will grow above each of those leaves. Again, let those branches grow about 10 inches and repeat the process. Given you have a good growing condition, your basil will have many branches. You dont just pick the leave off of basil. If the seeds that you planted germinate, you have to thin them. lets say only have one or two of them between your previously planted basils. The seed package should give you some guideline. But try to find a sunny spot. Probably cilantro grow better where you have described. I see you are in zone 5. Probably you will have to wait til the end of May?? or after mothers day??to plant basil. You have to know when in your area the danger of frost is over. Basil will not grow if it is cold and a light freez can kill it. But you can plant cilantro , both plant and seeds in your garden, RIGHT NOW, TOMORROW.

The yield is only a tiny part of the story. We find that wahat matters most is how much labor goes into each crop. For example, we can't make any money on green beans unless we charge $4/pound. The nice thing about asparagus and rhubarb is that all you have to do is show up and pick them, and maybe add nutrients and weed once a season. Berries need to be weeded, pruned, and possibly managed for disease. Depending on the fruit trees, they might take a lot or a little work. I wouldn't rip out any established perennial plants until you have gone a seson or two keeping track of the time that you spend on them. Also, consider what others around you can offer: anybody with a backyard garden can grow tomatoes and corn, but perennial crops are something special and expensive to establish, so they are more rare. Berry crops, expecially, don't travel well, so yours are likely to be better quality and possibly even less expensive than buying those little clamshells at the grocery store. That's what you want to draw in customers: something that they can't get anywhere else. Then they'll buy other stuff while they're there. Katey

"Short-lived"?! - my original plant is still going strong 6 years after I planted it - and it is the progenitor of all the others in my yard! L. syphilitica grows next to the L. cardinalis in my garden. I found it about 3 years ago growing on the border of my swamp and last year moved a clump to my garden. From the way it grows in the wild, it seems much better behaved than the cardinalis. It is a beautiful plant, Elaine.

If you plan on selling little arrangements. I would keep to common things like Sedum or hybrids with Sedums, simple everyday Echeverias/hybrids, Graptopetalums, Sempervivums, Senecios, and Kalenchoe. Plus these guys never really go dormant all that much. If they're getting sun and water they will grow. So generally they would do fine together. Just warn people about the harsh sun. Since summer is on it's way for you:). Semps I find for me in the summer need a little protection. Also Strings of pearls or strings of whatever don't look their best with direct all day summer sun. I would just tell people full morning sun afternoon shade. Just to be safe. You usually can never go wrong with that answer:). Here's something I did lastnite in the dark with a flashlight. I'm in a hurry to get cuttings and whatever I have hanging around a home. It's kinda nice doing things in the dark. You wake up and it's a nice suprise. Normally if I was making an arrangement for someone who is new to succulents I wouldn't cram them so tight, but for me it's ok:).