Mint · Easy · 5–7 hours
Basil
The herb that pays for its pot the first week. Cut it correctly and one plant gives you a cup of leaves every ten days.
- Pot size 2 gallons minimum
- Soil depth 8 inches
- Spacing 10 inches
- Days to harvest 70
Basil is cheap in the store and expensive in a pot, which is backwards — but only because most people treat it like a decorative annual. Grown for cutting, a single 2-gallon pot supplies a household all summer. The whole skill is pinching: every flower spike you allow costs you two weeks of leaves.
How to grow it
- Wait for night temperatures above 50°F. Basil sulks and turns black in cold soil.
- Pinch off every flower bud as soon as you see the spike forming. This is the single biggest yield factor.
- Cut above a pair of leaves, never below the lowest pair. The plant regrows from those nodes.
- Water when the top inch of soil is dry. Basil hates wet feet more than drought.
- Feed every three weeks with a mild liquid fertilizer — basil is a light feeder.
What goes wrong
- Downy mildew: yellowing leaves with grey fuzz underneath. Improve airflow, water at soil level, and remove affected stems.
- Leggy, sparse growth: not enough sun or not enough pinching.
- Cold damage: blackened leaf edges after a cold night. Move the pot or cover it.
Harvesting
Start cutting once the plant has six true leaves. Pinch above a leaf pair to force two new branches.
- Harvest in the morning before the oils evaporate.
- Store cut stems in a glass of water on the counter — it lasts a week and roots in two.
- Freeze chopped leaves in ice-cube trays with olive oil for winter cooking.
Varieties that work in pots
Genovese · Thai Basil · Purple Ruffles · Everleaf (slow to bolt)
Seed is cheap; the pot and the mix are where the money goes. Links to search results on Amazon are affiliate links — see our disclosure.
Basil timing by zone
Windows for a typical garden in each zone. Start indoors = seed tray; Set out = transplant or direct sow into the final container.
| Zone | Start indoors | Set out | Direct sow | Fall sow | Harvest from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Apr 18 – May 2 | Jun 13 – Jun 23 | — | — | Aug 22 – Sep 12 |
| 4 | Apr 3 – Apr 17 | May 29 – Jun 8 | — | — | Aug 7 – Aug 28 |
| 5 | Mar 19 – Apr 2 | May 14 – May 24 | — | — | Jul 23 – Aug 13 |
| 6 | Mar 4 – Mar 18 | Apr 29 – May 9 | — | — | Jul 8 – Jul 29 |
| 7 | Feb 18 – Mar 4 | Apr 15 – Apr 25 | — | — | Jun 24 – Jul 15 |
| 8 | Feb 6 – Feb 20 | Apr 3 – Apr 13 | — | — | Jun 12 – Jul 3 |
| 9 | Jan 18 – Feb 1 | Mar 15 – Mar 25 | — | — | May 24 – Jun 14 |
| 10 | Jan 4 – Jan 18 | Mar 1 – Mar 11 | — | — | May 10 – May 31 |
| 11 | Dec 20 – Jan 3 | Feb 14 – Feb 24 | — | — | Apr 25 – May 16 |
See the full planting calendar to compare all crops for your zone at once.