From my first time tinkering with rosemary back in 2008, I’ve definitely come a long way with growing herbs. Plenty of failure along the way and now over 4 years on since my last herbs planting post, I can tell you one thing. Both my basil and rosemary survived! BUT the rest of the herbs were not so lucky. The rosemary and basil are not the first generation because they’ve been propagated many times (especially basil).
As for the rest of the herbs like thyme, oregano, mint, dill, etc… I ain’t giving them up. Right now, I’m busy playing experimenting on growing fruit and vegetable from seeds. This will be on another post.
My tips on growing basil & rosemary successfully in Malaysia
Note: The basil I have is called sweet basil
Basil and rosemary love full sun. You can plant them all year round in Malaysia and they will thrive. They grow really slow in sheltered or shaded area. I water them once a day in the morning or if I forget/lazy, evening will do too. If the soil is really dry, I might water twice a day but mostly once a day is enough as both basil and rosemary are hardy plants. If it has been raining, I don’t water them. I use organic soil or organic compost soil. And I dig the soil (to loosen them) every 1-2 months for better air and water circulation. I rarely fertilize my basil and rosemary plants and when I do, I use organic fertilizer.