Basil is a queen, and needs to be treated just so – her tolerance for anything other than perfect is low and if you dish it out she’ll let you know with fungus-y foliage, black streaks, pale leaves, tough leaves, poor growth or by rushing off to seed. All of these are easily prevented when you take care of the basics. Each little detail makes the difference.
Lets start with warmth – basil being a summer herb and all, needs it, so I grow it in the greenhouse, but if you’ve a toasty microclimate, by all means go outside. If you don’t have a greenhouse and live somewhere cool, pots are a great way to bring extra warmth, basil does well in them, or get creative and find some other way to pump up the heat.
When too cold, basil foliage pales, may go streaky as well and growth slows right down. When toasty she grows with vigour, though there is such a thing as too hot. If it’s too hot for you, chances are it’s too hot for basil, provide some shade. In roasting summers I drape shade cloth across the overhead wires in the greenhouse to bring midday relief.
Moist, well nourished, well drained soil is where it’s at, so plant your basil in your vegie patch or greenhouse. If heavy clay is your lot, either plant in pots until your soil is better, or aerate the soil first then spread a generous dose of your lovely homemade compost plus a handful of vermicastings. Use this same recipe for dry sandy soils (minus the aerating of course!)
A homemade mulch always helps, especially in the transition from spring to summer where sudden changes in temperature can send annual herbs off to seed. Mulch moderates the ups and downs and keeps soil warmth (and moisture), steady.
Dry soil isn’t great – if basil dries out leaves will be tough and growth poor, but poorly drained or over watered soil is public enemy number one = pale leaves, black streaks, poor growth and/or fungus-y to boot.
The trick is to let the soil dry out a tad between waterings, and water the soil not the foliage. Barely moist is very best for queen B. If overwatering is your habit, pull back and watch and see what happens.
If you’ve a dry environment, then basil will be happy as planted amongst salads, calendula, phacelia, buckwheat, nasturtium, beetroot, dwarf beans – there’s no end to basil’s good mates, but not so if you’ve a damp, cold or low light garden. In this case give lots of space for good airflow and sun.
For a bushy, vigorous basil, pinch the new tips out once the seedling is 12 – 15cm tall, and once the plants have about 8 to 10 leaves, start regularly harvesting the biggest leaves. Either nip off individual leaves or snip stem and leaves. Both these practises inspire new growth, keeping your plants steadily productive (as long as all the other conditions are met!) You wont end up with huge plants per se, but you will have constant supply of fresh, sweet leaves. Like all greens, the leaves are at their sweetest and juciest in the morning.
Monthly liquid feeds make a difference, especially if like me, you adore basil and harvest often. Use comfrey or seaweed – whatever herbal brew you have. A light sprinkle of grass clippings now and then as a mulch is another simple, effective booster.
Once flowers start to appear, basil is still perfectly edible but the leaves are past their sweet prime. Pinching out the flowers wont change this – let them flower for the bees then collect the seed from plants with great flavour and good vigour.
Rather than trying to keep one plant going the entire growing season, keep fresh plants coming on steadily summer through autumn: fresh, young foliage is where it’s at. I sow monthly, from October until March. In toasty soil (21°C) with no weeds about, you can direct sow. Germination is fast when its warm, the first little round leaves will unfurl in about a week.
