HOW TO GROW BASIL

Home » Home and Family » Gardening Join Sign in EzineArticles - Expert Authors Sharing Their Best Original Articles Custom Search Search Hans Dekker Platinum Quality Author Platinum Author | 96 Articles Joined: April 27, 2005 Netherlands How to Grow Basil By Hans Dekker | Submitted On April 29, 2005 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Expert Author Hans Dekker Today there are sprays, scented candles, plug-ins, and even discs that promise to freshen your air by putting a variety of aromas into your home. However, when you know how to grow basil, you can have enough variety of fragrance to package your own potpourri! The most commonly grown basil is the annual, ocimum basilicum that carries a minty fragrance that smells like... well, it smells like sweet basil. In addition to having a wonderful fragrance, sweet basil is an essential ingredient in soups, stews, pesto sauce, and just about any tomato dish. Knowing how to grow basil is a must for every herb gardener. You can grow herbs both indoors and outdoors Basil comes in over 160 varieties that, in addition to the sweet basil fragrance, offer other aromas like those of lemon, licorice, and cinnamon and foliage colors that range from emerald green to royal purple. Learn how to grow basil and you provide a treat for you eyes as well as an aromatic treat for you nose. Generally, when just learning how to grow basil, you'll want to start your plants from seeds. Until basil stems are nearly mature, they are quite fragile and easily broken and bruised so transplanting young basil cultivars can be an exercise in futility. Luckily, basil is one of the cultivars that can be seeded directly into your garden and in fact, if you reseed your basil plot every three weeks, you'll have fresh basil all summer long. Basil is a low-maintenance plant. Although it prefers full sun, it will grow in partial shade. Once seedlings are established, basil is also drought tolerant and will actually provide better flavor if you don't fertilize it! One tip you should know about how to grow basil and preserve its full flavor for culinary use is to pinch off flower spikes as they form. Part of the fun of knowing how to grow basil is the many different ways to preserve it after harvest. You can harvest your basil anytime by snipping off its leaves as you need them and they turn many ordinary dishes into delicacies when used fresh. Basil can also be dried by snipping some stems and hanging them in bunches together. Air-drying basil in this way is a great way to add its aroma to your kitchen! When your basil bunches are completely dry, you can crumble the leaves and store them in glass bottles. Basil can also be preserved by freezing. Freeze small quantities of fresh basil in plastic bags or chop the leaves and freeze them in water in an ice cube tray. Basil is an easy-growing herb that is full of possibilities for home décor, fragrance and culinary use. In addition, it's as well suited for container growing as it is for direct seeding into your garden. Learning how to grow basil is a sweetly satisfying part of gardening, no matter what variety you choose to grow! You are free to publish the above article in your ezine or website, provided credit in the form of an (HTML clickable) hyperlink is given to the author. Hans is an enthusiast gardener and one of the authors of the "How To" section of http://www.gardening-guides.com and http://www.patio-furniture-ideas.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Hans_Dekker/6761 0 Comments | Leave a Comment Did you find this article helpful? Happy Face0 Sad Face0 Viewed 3,974 times Word count: 490 Article Tools EzinePublisher Report this article Cite this article Stay Informed Subscribe to New Article Alerts: Home and Family: Gardening Hans Dekker Email Address Subscribe We will never sell or rent your email address. Gardening Article Feed Gardening Article Feed Find More Articles Search Recent Articles Why You Should Plant a California Native Garden Planning Your Garden Part 1 6 Easy Tips for a Beautiful Lawn How to Manage Parrot Feather - Some Options How to Control Dollarweed (Pennywort) in Your Lawn Water Fountains - Defining Your Home Decor Plant Vegetables in April For a Southern California Summer Harvest Top 10 Plants to Make Your Garden Smell Like Heaven New to Gardening? Read These 6 Tips to Grow Beautiful Plants Hugelkultur for Long Term Soil Creation, Water Storage and Soil Management EzineArticles.com About Us FAQ Contact Us Member Benefits Privacy Policy Shop Site Map Blog Training Video Library Advertising Affiliates Cartoons Authors Submit Articles Members Login Premium Membership Expert Authors Endorsements Editorial Guidelines Terms of Service Publishers Terms Of Service Ezines / Email Alerts Manage Subscriptions EzineArticles RSS © 2017 EzineArticles All Rights Reserved Worldwide