How To Grow Basil Successfully
It is relatively easy to grow Basil as long as the environment for its growing has sufficient sunlight as well as the level of temperature. Basil is a very popular herb for its fragrant and tasty leaves. It can be added to sandwiches or salads when raw. It can also be used in some cooked dishes like the famous pasta with basil sauce and tomato.
If you like to grow Basil in pots, you must make sure that there will be an adequate drainage from the pot base. If necessary, you could line it with some coarse gravel. Otherwise, if you like to grow them outside, then you must make sure that the soil is dug well and free from weeds before you sow them. Before you sow and grow basil, ensure too that the soil or compost is moist. Therefore, you must water the soil generously before you grow Basil.
It is very important that your Basil are not exposed especially to the last frosts in spring. So, if you will be sowing them outside, be patient to wait and sow them in late March. However, if you will be sowing the Basil indoor, you can plant the herbs at anytime. The seeds should be sowed thinly and if you are going to grow them in pots sow only with few Basil in each of your pot. Cover them with ½ centimeter of soil and gently firm them. You can expect the Basil seeds to germinate in just a week. Once your seedlings have at least 2 pairs of leaves developed, then you can start thinning out the seedling which is the weakest in each pot.
Basil should be planted in a place that receives a very good amount of sun for around 6 to 8 hours every day. They can be grown on sunny windowsills in containers. If you will place them outside, place the Basil in the spot where there will be no cold winds. Grow basil in fertile soil which is well cultivated to allow air circulation.
If you are to grow Basil in a container or indoor pots, ensure that you have added even a small amount of fertilizer once every month. You should water them every week. Be sure that when watering you avoid showering the plants’ stems and leaves. Furthermore, ensure that any flower that will appear will be pinched out. In this way, the flavor of the plants will be preserved well and the leaves of the plants will grow much bigger.
You can harvest first all the top most leaves and then frozen some for later use. The leaves can be used when fresh or dried. To dry the Basil grown fully, you should cut their stems at the level of the soil and then dry using a dehydrator or just hang those stems up to let the air dry them. You can wait a week for them to dry. Once they dry, you can store them in a container airtight for up to a year.
