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Ocimum basilicum 'Sweet Basil'
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Unwins
seed for 150 plants
Price: £1.49
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Description
Vigorous, happy plant that grows big, flat, mid-green leaves all summer long. Keep picking the growing tips and the 2 pairs of leaves below them for the kitchen. More branches sprout more leaves. Then when you are ready for a real pesto session, harvest up to half the leaves at a time. This large-leaved Italian type is glorious for pesto. Plant several times for a continuous supply until frost. Grow one on the windowsill through the winter! Approx. 400 seeds/g.
CULTURE: Do not be in a hurry to plant basil. Plants are usually started indoors 5-6 weeks before night-time temperatures outside are consistently above 10C (50F), which can be early June. So start indoors late April or thereabouts. Sow seeds uncovered, lightly pressed into a sterile starting mix. Transplant to the garden in full sun in rows 60-100cm (2-3.75 ft) apart and thin plants to 30cm (1ft) apart. Basil also does well in containers. Regular watering is needed, as basil will not tolerate drying right out.
HARVEST: For culinary use, harvest basil just before the flowers appear. Keep harvesting the growing tips to produce a bushy plant. For a large harvest, you can cut off as much as half the plant at once. To keep the highest quality of oils in the leaves, quick-drying in a food dehydrator or microwave works well. Leaves can also be frozen. For ornamental use, let the flowers develop and use them fresh or in dried arrangements.