Growing basil yourself is easy, and it is even a great idea for all who like to spice up their salads and summer meals!
Basic Basil facts:
Name – Ocimum basilicum
Family – Lamiaceae
Type – herbs and spices
Height – 8 to 16 inches (20 to 40 cm)
Exposure – full sun
Soil: light, well-drained – Harvest: May to October
Forget about store-bought basil wrapped in plastic that only keeps for a couple days. Why not discover the taste of real basil, freshly harvested to meet your needs?
You’ll often be purchasing your basil in pots: transplant it to the ground earliest in May or anytime over the summer.
You can also leave it in its original pot for a while for easy picking indoors or on a balcony.
What is best, though, for growing potted basil is to repot immediately after purchasing in a larger pot.
This plant is perfectly suited to indoor growing, or on a balcony, in pots or garden boxes.
Take care to water regularly so that the soil mix never dries up. If you purchased your basil in a pot in a supermarket, chances are you’ll have to water every day until you repot it to a larger pot.
Sowing basil is a great way to get nice, high-quality basil plants.
You can purchase seeds in stores and recover more after your basil blooms to sow them again the following year.
You can sow directly in the ground, starting in April in Southern regions and in May for other regions.
You can harvest basil leaves all spring and summer long.
Select larger leaves, and snip the entire stem off, so that new shoots can appear.
Basil can be harvested all day long, but usually is collected just before meals, so that its freshness and savor are at their highest.
<!–silentCooking: delicious recipes with basil as an important ingredient.–>
It is very easy to grow your basil inside your house, on a balcony or terraces.
There isn’t any “better” season to grow basil indoors.
You can really grow it all year long, even in winter.
Usually it is added to summer meals.
It is mostly grown from April to September-October, both indoors and outdoors.
Choose a sunny, well-lit space like a windowsill for instance.
There are enough varieties of basil to fit any taste!
Native to India, basil spread to the Mediterranean region where it was added to most types of dishes, salads and sauces.
Growing basil is quite easy as long as basic rules are followed.
Basil is an ingredient in many Mediterranean meals, especially in Italy. The most iconic of these are pesto, <!–silent–>pistou or basil-mozzarella tomatoes…
Basil-based recipes are innumerable and in most cases a true delight on a good summer day.
Basil was imported to Egypt long before being used in European cooking.
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Basil can be frozen and its taste will virtually stay as delicious, even after several weeks. But it won’t hold for more than a few months.