I love basil. It makes my summer worth the sweat. It makes your food come alive.
I would eat pesto on fresh pasta every day if I could. But ya know, you need variety and things like that. Still 50% of our lunches end up being this because it tastes so dang good. The other 50% ends up being super yummy salads, or campfire food over the fire pit in the backyard.
As you can imagine we end up going through quite a bit of basil during the summer. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but fresh basil from the grocery store can be kinda pricey. Somehow it also goes bad before I get around to using it. Either I forget about it, or it gets lost in the back of the fridge never to be found.
This is why we grow our own. And a lot of it. It’s cheap to grow, and you really don’t have to do much for it. Just water and weed as necessary.
10 Tips For Growing Basil Like A Boss
1) Water. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it is suuuuuper important, and odds are you were gonna forget at some point. So this is your reminder: Water your dang garden every day, and douse it good. You eat food and drink water every day. Your plants need the same thing. This does not mean fertilize it every day (they make their own food), but you definitely need to hydrate it daily.
2) Brush your babies. Whenever you go to your garden to water, ruffle and brush the basil plants with your hands to stimulate growth.
3) Pinch the flowers. If you start to see flowers at the top of your basil plant, pinch it off. This ensures healthy beautiful plants. If you leave it on it will produce less leaves for you, and focus on spreading that seed.
4) Fertilize. You could either buy some plant food or use coffee grounds to fertilize with instead. I use coffee grounds with great results, and the only time I have used a store bought plant food…it killed all of my plants soooooooooo….
5) Pest control. If the bugs are buggin’ ya, try using liquid seaweed as your fertilizer for a while. You could also make a natural pesticide by mixing a teaspoon of natural dish soap per quart of water, and distributing it using a spray bottle.
6) Basil and tomato were meant to be together. Whenever I cook with tomatoes then chances are I’m using basil too. WE like them together but turns out THEY grow better together.
7) I’m all about that sun, ’bout that sun, no shadow! Remember when we were talking about the food and water every day thing? Your basil needs sun to make food so it can grow. Choose a spot that gets about 6 hours of sunlight a day when planting your basil.
8)Taller is not better. You should NEVER let your basil get taller than a foot. If you notice the basil starting to grow tall and skinny with less leaves and bigger spaces between them, then you should cut off the top to get it to the desired height.
9) You will rue the day you put rue and basil together. RUE IT!!! Okay, here’s the deal. Basil….it sort of hates rue. So don’t put them together. Got it?
10) Enjoy it year round. Bring it indoors in a pot by a window. You will need to fertilize less, and figure out how often you need to water by checking it every so often.
Now it’s time to garden it out, yo! I hope y’all were able to glean some knowledge from this list, and I hope your basil plants give you lots of love. Cause I love y’all, and you deserve basil.
What tips do YOU have for growing basil?
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Man I wish I had a spot that gets 6 hours of sun. Apartment living tends to limit gardening 🙁
Stopping by from Create It Thursday #93
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I’ve tried basil in the past and never gotten great results. Time to try again, I guess! Thanks for the tips.
Thank you so much for posting this! Recently bought two plants and I’ve slowly been killing them…I didn’t know about #2 and #8!
Great tips! I didn’t know about brushing basil but going to do that when I start my garden this year!
I always manage to kill my basil EVERY summer! I’m trying your tips out this year!
Really? I have always had good luck basil (using these tips). Some how I ALWAYS manage to murder my cilantro! No matter what I do. It dies every time. Quickly too so I have never harvested any.
Thanks for the tips. I always grow some basil outside in the summer but I am trying to grow some indoors for the first time. Fingers crossed.
Great post! Basil is one of my favorite things to grow. Pinning now!
Thanks!
Lisa
Thanks Lisa!
Great tips. I never thought about brushing agains the herbs being good for them – I just like to do it because I love the various smells!
I needed these tips! Pinned and planning to put to use!
Thank you for all these wonderful tips on growing basil! Pinned!
Thanks for the tips! I love the coffee grounds as fertilizer, mine get tossed each morning.
Pinned and stumbled!
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I live in an apartment and have killed many basil plants. I love basil, so I think you’ve inspired me to try it one more time…
Woo hoo! Go for it! 🙂
I just bought two basil plants today, so I SO NEEDED THIS. I’ve never grown basil before. Mine will be kept indoors, otherwise the dogs will pee on them and/or eat them. I will set them outside to get sun and rain though, and they’ll be kept on a sunny windowsill otherwise.
(Visiting from Clever Chicks Blog Hop)
Sounds great! 🙂
Basil is my favourite herb and I have a pot of it in my kitchen so these tips are going to be useful. Thank you for sharing, I came across you on the clever chicks blog hop : )
Kathryn | Nimble Note
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Saving this one for reference! I hope to start an herb garden soon and want to make sure we are successful so this is great timing. Pinning it for sure. Also gotta go check out your other “like a boss” gardening features!
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Grazie,grazie e tanti auguri per il tuo orto !sei stata veramente utile .baci.
grazie di cuore,sei stata molto utile,auguri per il tuo orto !Vado a mettere il mio basilico al sole…
I was wondering how you apply the coffee grounds to the basil? Just sprinkle at the roots?
That’s how I do it, yes! 🙂
I have just a little basil pot on my windowsill and have been wondering about using coffee grounds, partly just so I don’t have to go in search of soil to transfer it to a bigger pot. I have read some things saying not to use coffee grounds with basil though… Do you think this would be okay?
Hi Alison! I have always used coffee grounds with my basil and it always does very well. I think a few tablespoons in your windowsill basil will do great! Good luck! 🙂
Love the tips. I grow basil along with 6 or 7 other herbs in the hot and humid climate of Florida. Mine are usually good for a couple of harvests then they inexplicably die. Ive researched from time to time altering my methods but info out there is overwhelming and sometimes contradictory. I havent seen a list so comprehensive yet short. I have 4 pots this year on the windo sill right now and Im determined to keep them going and keep them abundant because I use it so much. Im going to focus strictly on the basil this year tweaking as I go. The rest can live or die tilk I get this down good.
Something is eating my basil before I get a chance. The leaves are lacy with holes! Not slugs/snails since I brought it indoors shortly after buying it. I don’t spot any critters on the underside of the leaves either.
My wife really loves basil and failed a couple of times growing it. She’d be happy to read all these tips from you. I can’t wait to share this to her. Thank you so much for the tips!.
A great piece of information. I think this is what I was exactly looking for. All tips in a single click. I would definitely try to follow these suggestions.