How To Grow Basil in the Home Garden

Nothings says summer like the smell of fresh basil!

This beloved herb adds such wonderful flavor to many favorites summer dishes. Fortunately basil is quite easy to grow when you follow a few simple guidelines. Here I will share what has worked well for us so you can enjoy this summer herb in your own garden!

Which varieties to grow

There are many types of basil, so it is a plant you can have a lot of fun with! Our go-to basils for the kitchen are Sweet Italian Basil (like Genovese) which are excellent for making pesto or tomato sauce, and Thai Basil which adds an irreplaceable licoricey flavor to many favorite Thai dishes. Lemon or purple basil add a fun splash of scent and color to the garden as well.

Thai basil's unique flavor and aroma add diversity and interest to summer basil plantings.

Where to plant:

Find a spot in your garden with well amended soil and at least 6 - 8 hours of sun daily for your basil. Review our previous blog post on how to prepare your garden prior to planting. Once the soil is well prepared, add about 1/8 cup complete organic veggie fertilizer to each plant hole. As with all plants, adding nitrogen will produce a flush of new leaf growth. Since the leaf is what you harvest with basil this will produce a larger harvest more quickly.

There are many varities of traditional Italian basil. 'Genovese' pictured here is one of our favorites.

When to plant:

One of the most important thing to know about basil is that it loves warm weather. This means that if you plant too early it could stunt the plant for life. Check the night time lows and plant accordingly. Basil prefers temperatures above 60º and will suffer when temperatures drop into the 40s at night.

When planting basil wait until it is consistently in the 50’s at night. If it is dipping into the high 40’s on a regular basis, and you want to get a head start, make sure to cover the plants with with a frost blanket (see here to learn more). If you live in the Portland and are not one for tracking temperatures or using frost protection, simply wait until mid-June to plant your basil.

Remove or "pinch" basil flowers to extend your basil harvest and promote more leafy growth

Seeds VS Starts:

We plant basil from starts because it takes about 8 weeks for a basil seed to mature to a full sized start and it can’t be planted outside until the weather is relatively warm. This means that plant starts will be ready for harvest approximately two months prior your direct sown basil. I know I don’t want to wait any longer than I need to for fresh basil, so starts it is! That being said direct sown basil works just fine in a garden provided it is warm enough.

If you want both the early basil and the chance to grow the basil by seed, try planting both at the same time and create an extended harvest. First, harvest from the starts, then those plants start to expire and the direct sown basil would be ready for harvest.

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Care Tips:

The good news is that basil care is quite simple when the plant has sufficient sun, warmth and healthy soil!

Upon planting basil starts, pinch the plant right above each node (or a cluster of leaves). This encourages branching and increases productivity.
Every time you see flowers starting to form, remove them. This will extend the harvest of your basil.
Apply Sluggo at planting to prevent slug damage – fortunately slugs are less active in the summer, so hopefully that will help too.
Water the plant at its base instead of wetting the leaves to prevent disease.
Plant successions of basil instead of planting one basil plant for the whole season. Removing plants before they get too old is the easiest way to manage for disease and decline in leaf quality.