With the right pruning, your basil will grow wild

Do you love flower pots or containers that are literally overflowing with the leaves of this wonderfully aromatic herb? You can have them too, but you need to do one important thing
and that is to cut basil correctly.

Basil is great and just one large flower pot can supply a single household,. We all love all kinds of salads with basil. Don’t we? So, follow these simple requirements and you should be able to enjoy basil over and over again.

Basil hates direct sunlight

This may come as a surprise to many of us but basil will not do well on a windowsill heated by the midday sun. Other than that, basil can deal with almost anything. It just needs enough moisture and some fertilizer from time to time.

However, you need to give individual basil plants enough space. Sufficient nutrients, moisture and space – these are the key requirement you need to follow if you want to grow and enjoy basil all summer long. You get rich bushes of basil if you start planting sparsely and after while it gets rich, especially if you cut basil correctly.

Photo: Pixabay

How to cut basil properly

As soon as the plant reaches 3 – 4 nodes, you can start harvesting. If you look at individual spaces between nodes you will find empty spots where small leaves begin to grow. Find the most developed leaves and cut them.

The nodes where the new leaves sprout contain growth hormone and here the plant quickly creates two more new main stems. That is what makes basil thick and rich. Well, that is good but you need to plan your harvest. At least a week must pass between individual cuts are done on the same branch. Two weeks are probably better. That should be enough time for the plant to become strong and to concentrate enough growth hormone for further development.

Further, watch out for flowers. Remove flowers by breaking them off as soon as you discover them. Flowers make the plant unnecessarily weak and as it looses valuable essential oils.

Preview photo: Pixabay