Basil

[worth1]

I had no idea basil was a perennial until this year.
The plants I pulled even had bark on then.
I bet I could trim it back and protect it and it might come back the next year.

[bower]

You should try it, Worth.
Up north here we are struggling to grow it as an annual and keep it happy! One thing for sure, basil doesn't like cold. The house is not even warm enough for it, until the outdoor weather starts to thaw.

[SpookyShoe]

The plants I set out in spring to attract the bees are looking raggedy (very), but they're hanging in there. They have bark on them also. It hasn't frozen yet this year, but it has dipped into the 30s a few nights. If we have a hard freeze I know that the basil plants will be done for. My bee basil plants are too large and fragile to protect. They are the size of shrubs. No matter what's happens to them over the rest of the winter, I'll replace them in spring.

I already have enough plants in pots that I have to baby over the winter. I'm not looking for any more to do.

[pepperhead212]

Basil is always the first plant to die from cold, at least in my garden. Gets black spots first, long before the first frost. Before it gets to that point, I take cuttings, and put them in the cloner, to root for the hydroponics in the off season, then repeat, come spring. I never had a bug problem with basils, indoors or out.

[imp]

I love growing basil. It is so easy and rewards you generously. I like to put my face right into the plant and breathe, LOL, it is very calming even when I am having breathing issues. I do give the plant a shake or 2 before I do that, to check for bees. Guess how I learned to do that !

One of my favorites is the lettuce leaf basil, but I usually grow 5 or 6 types each garden year. They can be lovely and the bees love them very much.

[SpookyShoe]

Last summer I put out three plants with the sole purpose of attracting bees. Over the winter they looked pretty gnarly but they held on, even putting on blossoms. I was going to replace them but now I've changed my mind. I cut away a lot of the cold damage and they're really not looking that bad. One of the plants is about 5 ft tall.

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All of the leaves in the the picture are from the live oaks dropping their leaves as they do every year at this time.

[PlainJane]

My African Blue Basil is very woody and shrub-like too. I’ve taken lots of cuttings and I’ll trim back some as well. Once the weather warms up just a bit they’ll explode.

[EdieJ]

I found out quite by accident that basil clones well from cuttings. Last fall, I had cut more than I needed so stuck the excess in a glass of water to keep it alive until the next time I needed it and I think it only took 3 or 4 days for it to send out roots. I potted the rootlings and they are still going strong sitting in a north-facing window. I was really blown away. I am going to cut some of the branches to root in the next couple of weeks so they will be ready to go come time to be outside about the middle of April. My favorite variety is Nufar, but I also love lettuce leaf.

[MissS]

Thank you EdieJ. That's a great idea and good to know. I think that a few of us will be trying that this year. It sounds much easier than starting new pots of seed.

[Clkeiper]

basil roots very easily.
the African Blue basil will not produce seeds so taking cuttings is the only way to reproduce it.

[GoDawgs]

This is the 'Newton' basil that was a freebie from Seeds 'n Such this year. It was started 1/9 and is now 5" tall with a 7" spread. Smells so good!

[SpookyShoe]

Nice looking plant. Did you grow it under lights?

[GoDawgs]

Yes, I did. It's almost time to move it to a larger pot again and then out to the porch. But I think I'll wait until next week as we have a few lows in the 20's coming up by the weekend.

[peebee]

This is the 'Newton' basil that was a freebie from Seeds 'n Such this year. It was started 1/9 and is now 5" tall with a 7" spread. Smells so good!

What a great pic, I can almost smell it from here!

[karstopography]

I love basil, my favorite herb to sniff. Last year I grew a sweet, Thai and a purple variety. The purple was our favorite, both to the eye and the palate.

This year, I’ve got Italian, Cardinal and pesto Perpetuo going. Planted some purple type seeds recently around the base of a few peppers, haven’t sprouted yet.

[EdieJ]

My Newton basil seeds I planted either didn't sprout or died soon after and Crimson King did the same thing. I only got one Nufar and one Lettuce Leaf. I do still have the basil plant I started from cuttings this past winter. It's looking kind of weary but I'm hoping that this weekend when I can start letting it get some fresh air it will perk back up.

[pepperhead212]

I found out quite by accident that basil clones well from cuttings. Last fall, I had cut more than I needed so stuck the excess in a glass of water to keep it alive until the next time I needed it and I think it only took 3 or 4 days for it to send out roots.

Basil has always been one of my fastest cloners! I think sage was the only thing that was faster, but only a couple of times.

To increase the amount of roots that develop on most of the herbs, I lightly score the stems horizontally many times, and do about 3 vertical rows of these, then dip them in rooting compound, and the roots seem to grow out of those scored marks! Here's a photo, showing how many roots show up, after just a little over a week, starting in just 3-4 days. I was looking for one showing the score marks, but they were sort of filled in!
Serrata basil, ready to plant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[PlainJane]

Interesting [mention]pepperhead212[/mention] , I’m going to try scoring the next batch of African Blue cuttings.

[WoodSprite]

Basil will grow roots along the stem when the stems are planted deeper than they were growing, like tomatoes and peppers do, even without scoring. I always plant my basil deeper than it was growing in the pot. I'm curious if the scoring makes it happen faster, though. Have you done experiments on that, [mention]pepperhead212[/mention] ?

Many times I have found roots starting on stems that were out of soil but close to soil - like branches that were growing near the base of the plant. I think there was a microclimate of increased humidity there and that's partly what caused it.

I love basil. My favorites are the various globe or bush basils. They stay in nice, compact little globes/balls. The leaves are small and the stems are tender. To harvest, I cut off a handful and chop it, stems and all. Mmm-mmm.

[karstopography]

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This is Pesto Perpetuo basil, smells so good. Evidently, it’s non flowering. Haven’t used any in the kitchen yet, but it seems to be thriving.