Basil is an easy herb to grow and care for. But if you're like me, you need some instructions for growing plants and keeping them alive.
Basil is one of my favorite herbs to grow and cook with. I love its pungent aroma - sort of lemony with a hint of pepper. And the flavor is great, too. Add a few sprigs of basil in a salad or pasta dish, and it will make it taste fresher and liven it up.
Basil Varieties
Genovese: A type of sweet basil, most often used in pesto, but you can use any basil:
Fine Nano: This basil plant grows in a round shape and has small leaves
Lettuce Leaf Basil: Known for its large, curly, green leaves, this sweet basil is milder than other sweet basils:
Toscano: An Italian heirloom basil, the flavor is more subtle than Genovese.
Classico: A sweet basil used in sauces, pesto & about everything else you could use basil for!
Sweet Dani: A citrus basil, with a strong lemon scent
Dark Opal: A purple, sweet basil, that tastes like other sweet basils but can be used to add a nice color to recipes:
Holy Basil: Edible but also used for stress relief and boosting the immune system in Ayurvedic medicine:
Spicy Globe Basil: A sweet basil that grows in the shape of a small shrub with small leaves:
Thai Sweet Basil: Has a spicy licorice flavor, and is used in many Asian dishes like Thai basil chicken and spicy sesame noodles:
Two basil varieties I'm growing right now are purple basil and Italian large leaf basil:
Instead of growing them from seed, I bought them ready to be transplanted - my favorite way to grow plants!! I have grown basil from seed before but I'm impatient and love knowing I don't have to worry that my seeds may not take or the young plant may die. That's no fun ;(
Purple basils are by far my favorite type to grow.
I just love the beautiful purple color, mixed with the vibrant lime green.
Growing Basil Outdoors
Sunlight: Basil needs at least 6 hours of sun each day to thrive
Spacing: Each plant should be spaced 12-18" apart
Planting depth: container deep
Moisture: Basil likes to stay moist
Temperature: Bail likes to stay warm (above 50 degrees F)
Basil Companion Plants
Some images were taken by me. All others were from these sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
look like I have to start with holy basil, my son has immune problem which lead him to 28 foods allergy. please check my food recipe @lugina. thanks a lot
I have read great things about holy basil. Haven't started taking it, yet but have some. I'll share my experience with it when I start taking it. A natural herbal supplement that boasts less stress sounds good to me :)
Hi Everyone :) I somehow posted this by accident while editing.
Looks like I'll have to finish this in another post!
Pesto-Basil sauce FOREVER!!!! :)
Awesome post! As a first time gardener, I hope learn more from your future post. Thank you... Keep On Steemin On!!
I consider myself a newbie gardener myself. I find u only learn from trying new things and making mistakes... I've learned alot from my gardening blunders.... Personally, I like to stick to thinks that are easy or that I'm familiar with. But sometimes, I venture out into new territory. That's always fun =)
Congratulations, I liked your publication, it is excellent your point of conclusion. Follow me @alej.
Thanks, @alej! I had fun posting this. I just bought some new basil plants, so it seemed natural to show them off :)
Hey, Love the info. I got several Basils growing at the moment, I have one called Mammoth Basil which it is. But I do find most of them when they start to get too big they can taste of anisseed and be a bit bitter. I got mine in a aquaponic setup and they are realy easy to look after. You can just forget about them and let them grow. Peace.
Oh cool...I see why they call it Mammoth basil now. The leaves are pretty big! I'll have to try growing that sometime
Hi there @nataliejohnson!
An awesome write-up you have here as we ourselves grow a lot of kinds of veggies in our country home.
Veggies ranging from cabbages to carrots, melons to watermelons. brinjals to beens, frasbeans to salad greens, tomatoes to potatoes, celery's to coriander. You name it and we have it as we usually eat our produce only for the winters here which are pretty extreme.
And along with all these then we do grow Basil as well and use it extensively in salads or when we make spaghetti with prawn sauce topped with Basil greens. The taste is pretty pungent and the smell is very specific which is just perfect for the dish.
We love the way you laid out the different varieties of Basil as its always good to know knowledge.
Thank you for a wonderful and enlightening post, and we look forward to many more...
Cheers & God Bless!
Nat & Nelly :)
Hi @natnnelly. I love to grow vegetable, too. Usually, I plant a garden every summer but this summer I'm just doing herbs and flowers. Have fun with your veggie gardening!
Nice post! We love Basil! Up-voted and followed! Check out our post on growing food aquaponically! So far we have grown a variety of different types of lettuce but hope to have a post about growing all different types of plants with aquaponics:) https://steemit.com/life/@steemtobefree/one-hell-of-a-way-to-grow-the-best-food-our-trip-to-the-aquaponic-ouroboros-farms-in-half-moon-bay-California
Thank u @steemtobefree :) I'll have the other part of this post soon
if not for anything natalie, those pictures are fascinating, atleast i now learned that Basil is not only a plant but a herb for that matter.thanks. can't wait to read the full piece like you rightly mentioned.you have my follow.stay steemed!
Awesome! Yes, tomorrow I will post the rest of it :)
I love and recommend Tulsi Tea. In india it is called "The Incomparable One", we know it as Holy Basil....
I love tea, and drink some everyday... I'll have to try that
For a moment I read "Brazil" because it is my country and in our language it is written with "s" not with "z" ^^. Taking advantage of the opportunity see the publication I made shortly on lack of food in the world :) .. and I already left my upvote my friend @nataliejohnson
Hi @renantg. I just checked out your post and upvoted it;)
I use the dried up shit in a plastic bottle from the grocery store because that's how bad I am at growing things. I think I pissed off a Gypsy at some point who cursed me to kill every plant I try to grow. Seriously, I killed a cactus. I don't know what happened. I watered it every day.
I kill plants sometimes, too. It's not always us that kill them, sometimes they die of natural causes :)
Enjoyed reading and looking at the photos. I used to plant some herbs and veggies before too. :)
I like planting basil and other herbs because they fit in pots really nicely which makes the need for weeding almost non-existent. Weeds can still grow in pots but it's much harder for them too ;)
That is right. There will still be challenges. :)
Great post, I like gardening.
thanks for sharing this post @nataliejohnson
Me too, @herzaseptian. I prefer what's called "light" gardening... A little bit of sweat goes a long way with me. That's why I have learned to do more of pot gardening. I hate weeding flower beds!
Yea, I think we have the same hobby about gardening. continued success to you, and keep the spirit in delivering content in this steemit blog, see you on the next post @nataliejohnson.
Do you have any recipes for great pesto sauce?
I certainly do... I just posted my recipe for fresh basil pesto: https://steemit.com/food/@nataliejohnson/my-fresh-basil-pesto-recipe-quick-savory-and-delish
Excellent photos. Purple Basil's are my favorite too.
Thank u @allforthegood!
Thanks for showing the different varieties! I think I have a sweet basil at home. Have you ever had bug problems? That's the number one reason my plants never survive!
I have had bug problems before, yes. The plant ended up dying ;( I didn't do anything to stop them but I've read cinnamon is a natural bug repellent safe for plants
Very nice! Keep up the good work!
Thank u Thank u :) :)
Oh my god... I didn't know that there were so many types of basil! I love basil, and especially in pestos... It gives a very fresh taste to the salads.
Thank you for sharing this!
I love basil too, as with all herbs!
Congratulations @nataliejohnson!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Love Basil! I use Pesto instead of Hollandaise on my Eggs Benedict every time . MUST TRY.
That sounds really good... I'll have to try it sometime
Mmm i LOVE Basil too - great post - great info - BIG Thanks!
Big thank u to u TOO!
Very nice, We recently started growing our own basil. It is great.
Will be looking forward to your posts.
Up-voted :-)
RightWithin
I don't know what I like more, the smell of basil or its taste.
Awesome, Thanks for the Upvote!!
hmmm i never thought about it lol...might be smell for me....but then i think about it in my pasta and whew!! LOL
meep
Meep to u too =)
meep
You're very cute Meep
Nervier realised there was so much basil. I am growing a mint basil at the moment quite well. It's a rhizome so grows very quickly :)
MM sounds good. I'll have to try growing mint basil
Awesome tutorial, and explaination. Thanks!
Basil is definitely a must in the kitchen :D
Definitely;)
Great post! Informative ! btw I am new to Steemit, Would appreciate everyone's interest in my profile, Do leave an upvote if you like something and follow,
I have attempted a few posts, Latest one being https://steemit.com/travel/@alexkoshy/lesser-known-reasons-to-visit-india
Thanks, @alexkosy ;)
Basil is such a great herb. It makes my pasta sauce. I do usually get a downy mildew problem late in the summer growing it in my garden. I have new seeds coming up now in anticipation. It looks good right now though.
Nice picture @garden-to-eat!
this is an awesome post. thanks for sharing
Thank u, it was my pleasure ;)
I'm growing the purple one right now! :) I love basil; it's so easy!
I just made pesto today with home grown basil. I used three varieties and mixed them but not the lemon basil. That got its own pesto batch. Has a nice lemony tang. Thanks for the great post.
I would love to add lemon basil to my basil garden... sounds like a great way to make pesto
I love pesto but I also like just putting it in salads. I'm a big herb fanatic, really, so much so I could probably just eat all basil leaves as one big salad :) :)