Is my basil worth keeping???

Is my basil worth keeping??? (post #12796)

JCK on Wed, 10/11/2006 - 02:53

Herbs

Hello all! I am a beginner gardener, and although most of my herbs look great, my basil is below mediocre. I apparently was not aware of how important pruning was, and have neglected that all summer. I now want to bring my basil indoors and continue to grow it, but it has flowered and the stalks are rather woody and brown. Even if I do prune it all back, is it worth it? Any advice is appreciated! :) Thank you!

(post #12796, reply #1 of 4)

by Astrid in reply to JCK [original] on Thu, 10/12/2006 - 22:20

Basil likes heat, sun and some water, and as you have noted, discipline. I doubt that bringing your end-of-summer plant indoors would make it happy, though you can try if you want too. A warm window and attention daily might make it happy, but I'm not optimistic!
Just take up pinching back the plants you grow next year, once they are big and leafy, nip off the top leaves down to just above the joint of the branches and the stem, and make some pesto. You can freeze it or keep it in a jar with oil to cover it and refrigerate it.
Next year pruned plants will grow new branches, nip them in the same way.

New Mexico home organic gardener

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson

New Mexico home organic gardener Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson

(post #12796, reply #2 of 4)

by LIBugGuy in reply to JCK [original] on Fri, 10/13/2006 - 01:13

Basil is an anual, so once it goes to seed, it's not going to do much else. You can save the seed to grow next year, however.

Selling plants from an orange box, and doing a bit of design on the side- LI NY, Zone 7ish...

Selling plants from the Orange box, and doing a little garden work on the side.

LI, NY, almost zone 7, but it's been warmer of late :)

(post #12796, reply #3 of 4)

by msm-s in reply to JCK [original] on Wed, 10/25/2006 - 06:29

and basil is so easy to grow from seed. it will likely reseed itself if you just let it stay oustide, won't it?

(post #12796, reply #4 of 4)

by MaeB in reply to JCK [original] on Thu, 11/09/2006 - 20:49

Don't you just love fresh herbs! I love the fact that they don't require a lot of fussing but you do need to pinch them off to keep them nice. I just love collecting the seeds in the fall so I can plant them again next spring and I give my friends seeds too. You can download seed package templates from the web - they make great "for no special reason" gifts too!

Is my basil worth keeping???