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Making the Most of Basil

Cutting Basil

Harvesting basil is the sweet summertime payoff after growing it. I love to gather armfuls of this spicy herb for use indoors. If you’ve got basil growing in your plot, here are four quick tips to maximize your harvest.

Wait until the plant has reached at least ten inches high before making your first cut. For the first harvest, clip stems just above the second set of leaves (counting from the bottom). New stems will form at this juncture, giving you a bushier plant.

Basil will benefit from regular clipping about every two weeks. New leaves have the best flavor. Don’t ‘save’ the basil for one big harvest at the end of the season. By then most of the leaves will be past their prime and bitter tasting.

During the growing season, keep the water coming. Basil is a tropical annual that needs lots of water to produce those succulent leaves. Water it as you would your tomato vines.

When daytime temperatures rise above 80 degrees, basil begins to flower. Resist the impulse to just pinch off the tip. Pinching off the flower spike (known as deadheading) doesn’t halt the flowering – it simply makes way for the next flower stalk. Instead, cut the budding stalks at least four leaf nodes down the stem. This will shock your basil out of flower production and back into leaf production, which is exactly what you want.


Ann McCormickIf you enjoy herbs and organic gardening, you'll want to meet Ann McCormick, the Herb 'n Cowgirl. A life-long gardener, she has spent the last ten years devoted to writing and speaking about her favorite subject. Ann contributes to regional and national home and garden and life-style magazines, including Organic Gardening, Country Woman, Gardening How-To, and Neil Sperry¹s Gardens. The Herb 'n Cowgirl also shares her love of herbs and her gardening techniques as a speaker and media guest. To find out more about the Herb 'n Cowgirl visit her website at www.ann-mccormick.com.


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  • SCM Philly Suburbs, PA 18 Aug, 02:59 PM

    Been growing basil for many years in containers, but never knew that deadheading the flowers was a bad idea. Thanks for the tip about cutting the stalks further down to get the plant back into leaf production.

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  • rpmaster2 Martinsville Ohio 13 Aug, 11:04 AM

    Ann,

    Valuable info...thanks so much! I am growing my first crop of herbs this year in containers. I decided I would try container gardening first to see how many herbs I would actually use. Basil is my favorite! I let mine flower as well, it is beautiful. Next year I will know how to take care of it a little better!

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  • Greenie Apple Valley, CA 12 Aug, 10:43 AM

    Thanks ANN! This is great information! I had no idea that I should wait for the plant height to be about 10" to harvest the leaves and the proper way to deadhead. Makes sense doesn't it! ha. I will sure do things a little differently on my next basil crop. (I have to admit I've let a few of my plants go to full bloom, they are so pretty!)

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