Plot · field guide
How to Grow Basil (and Keep It From Flowering)
Basil is the easiest herb to grow and the easiest to ruin. It loves heat and gives you leaves for about 12 weeks, but the day it starts to flower the leaves turn bitter and the plant begins to quit. The fix is simple: plant it warm and pinch the tops every couple of weeks. Here is the whole routine.
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Wait until nights are warm
Basil is a warm-season crop and cold sets it back hard. A chilly night below 50 F stalls the plant and turns the leaves spotty and dark. Do not rush it into the ground in spring.
Set out transplants about 3 weeks after your last frost, once nights stay warm. From a transplant, basil is ready to start picking in about 40 days. From seed, plan on about 60 days. Most gardeners buy a small plant or two and skip the wait.
- Plant about 3 weeks after your last frost, when nights stay above 50 F.
- About 40 days to first harvest from a transplant, 60 days from seed.
- Basil wants full sun, at least 6 hours a day.
Give each plant 8 inches
Space basil plants 8 inches apart in the row, with 18 inches between rows. That gives each plant room to bush out and keeps air moving through the leaves, which cuts down on mildew.
Two or three plants is plenty for most kitchens. One healthy plant gives you about half a pound of leaves across its run, and that is a lot of basil when you are picking a handful at a time.
- Space plants 8 inches apart in the row, rows 18 inches apart.
- Two or three plants covers most home cooking.
- Plan on about half a pound of leaves per plant over the season.
Pinch the tops every couple of weeks
This is the one step that makes or breaks basil. Once a plant is about 6 inches tall, pinch off the top set of leaves just above a lower pair. The plant answers by growing two new stems where you pinched, so it gets bushier and gives you more leaves instead of shooting up tall and thin.
Keep pinching every couple of weeks all season. The real reason to do it is to stop flowers. When basil flowers it puts its energy into seed, the leaves turn bitter, and the productive run ends. Snip off any flower buds the moment you spot them and you keep the plant leafy and sweet for the full 12 weeks.
- Start pinching when the plant hits about 6 inches tall.
- Pinch just above a lower leaf pair so two new stems grow.
- Remove flower buds on sight, or the leaves go bitter and the run ends.
Harvest from the top
Always pick from the top of the plant, not the bottom. Taking the top growth doubles as a pinch, so every harvest makes the plant bushier. Stripping the lower leaves instead leaves you with a bare, leggy stalk.
Pick in the morning when the leaves hold the most oil and flavor. Take up to about a third of the plant at a time and it bounces back in a week or so. A plant you keep picking gives more than one you leave alone.
- Harvest the top few inches, which also keeps the plant pinched.
- Pick in the morning for the strongest flavor.
- Take up to a third at a time and let it regrow.
Dry or freeze the surplus
Basil does not store fresh for long. It bruises in the fridge and a hard frost in fall ends the plant for good, so a big late-season plant will hand you more leaves than you can eat that week. Put the extra up instead of losing it.
You have two easy paths. Freeze it: pack chopped leaves into an ice cube tray, cover with a little olive oil or water, and freeze for cooking later. Or dry it: a dehydrator or a low oven turns a full plant into a jar of dried basil that keeps for months. Drying is the better move for the end-of-season cutback before frost.
- Freeze chopped leaves in oil in an ice cube tray for cooking.
- Dry a big harvest into jars that keep for months.
- Do a full cutback and preserve it before the first fall frost.
Questions, answered straight
It flowered. When basil sends up flower buds it shifts energy into seed and the leaves go bitter. Pinch the tops every couple of weeks and snip off any flower buds the moment you see them to keep the leaves sweet.
Pinch the growing tips every couple of weeks and remove flower buds as soon as they appear. Regular pinching keeps the plant in leaf mode and stretches the productive run to about 12 weeks.
About 40 days from a transplant to your first harvest, or about 60 days from seed. After that a well-pinched plant keeps giving leaves for roughly 12 weeks.
Space plants 8 inches apart in the row, with 18 inches between rows. That spacing lets each plant bush out and keeps air moving, which lowers the risk of mildew.