Sweet Basil

It's hard to believe that supermarkets sell small bags of fresh basil for $6+ when a bag of 100 seeds can be purchased for around $1.  Growing basil is easy, cheap, and a great experience.

I'll talk you through my experience in growing basil:

1) Start from the seed!
 I started growing my basil seeds in a Jiffy Indoor Seed Starting Greenhouse.  These greenhouse sets can be purchased at all hardware/gardening stores for relatively cheap prices ($6-10).  You can also buy them on amazon, although I've found that they are cheaper to buy in stores like Home Depot. (the individual seed pellets are cheaper to buy online, however) I will break down how to use one of these sets in a post  dedicated to seed starting later this month...





Seed starting set:
http://www.amazon.com/Jiffy-5032-Professional-Greenhouse-25-Plant/dp/B00004RA48/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342033602&sr=8-1&keywords=Jiffy+5032+Professional+Greenhouse+25-Plant+Starter+Kit


Individual peat pellets:
http://www.amazon.com/Count--Jiffy-Pellets-Seeds-Starting/dp/B000EHLTIQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1342033628&sr=1-4&keywords=jiffy+peat+pellets


2) With adequate light, my basil  plants grew phenomenally indoors and outdoors.


3) Basil Flowers:
 Finally this week I noticed a small flower growing at the very top of my basil plant.  Before I got a chance to photograph the flower, a workman outside pinched it off.  He correctly told me that it was essential to remove the flower.  Had the flower remained on the basil, its growth would have stunted and the plant would have decreased its production of oils. These oils provide the basil with its amazing aroma and flavor. 

A Basil Flower

(http://www.itsnature.org/plant_life/vegetation-plants/basil/)

A bird's eye view of my basil plant.  The purple color at the center of the plant are the remains of the removed flower. I later removed the remaining flower.

4) Pruning Basil
Removing the basil is not enough to produce lush amounts of flavorful basil.  It is necessary to prune your basil plant to produce more bumper crops.

First I'll talk you through  conservative pruning with some of my own pictures. At the bottom of my picture gallery you'll find a helpful youtube video dedicated to basil pruning:

My basil plant ready for some simple pruning.

Identify the top part of the plant above two new lateral branches.

Cut the very top of the plant off.  The two laterals below will grow in fuller and stronger.  More nutrients and water will now be transferred to these areas...
You can remove much more of the plant than I did if you would like to produce more basil.  You can freeze whatever leftovers you have for the winter season...

Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ami3w1EvZnk for more help!

FYI:

Even if you don't care for the taste of basil, having a basil plant in your garden is an effective way of attracting natural pollinators like bees!
 (But you will need to let the basil flower grow for this to work!)

And now, I'm off to make some pesto!