Don’t you love the aroma of fresh basil? Do you wish you had it in your garden, but you can’t be bothered growing it at home because it takes too long?
What if I tell you the easiest way to grow them?! Would it help you enjoy cooking at home?
In this article, I’ll show you the easiest way to grow Basil.
Before we begin
I’m sure you’re curious about what this method is. Some of you may know already, and it’s called plant propagation. If you are a gardener, you might have done it with plants like hydrangeas.
So this is what we are going to do.
What you need
- basil with stems (I originally used the basil stems from a local farmer.)
- ikebana shears or a pair of scissors
- container filled with water
How to propagate basil
Step 1: Choose
If this is your first experiment of a growing season, buy basil with stems. I usually go to a farm and get freshly picked ones. Choose some that are longer than 10cm.
If you already have some fresh ones growing in your garden, cut/pinch off to harvest.
What you want to do here is cut the stems, again longer than 10cm. Why? When it’s short, the head is too heavy for the short stem to stay in the water. Additionally, short stems in water tend to rot after a while.
When choosing your basil, pick one that is going to flower soon or any of those stems leading toward the sky. Once they start flowering, all energy will be focused on going into the seeds. To put it simply, keep the plant bushy!
Step 2: Remove the basil leaves
Next, remove the leaves, and save them for later.
As you can see in the picture above, I usually leave small upper leaves. What we are doing here is encouraging the plants to concentrate on rooting. Not sending energy to grow and maintain the leaves.
Once you finish removing the leaves, cut the bottom of the stems at an angle. That helps the plant absorb water efficiently.
Final Step: Leave & plant the basil
Finally, place the stem in a container filled with water. Over time, the water level goes down, so add more water when needed.
Within a week or two, you’ll see roots like in the picture above. When you see a few roots, it’s time to plant them in soil.
See the picture below. Now I have 3 additional baby plants! Repeat the process until you get the desired number of plants.
Don’t forget to enjoy the leaves you removed earlier! Bon appetite!
Mission Accomplished!
Like many of you, I used to buy fresh-ish basil at a supermarket. One day, I found real fresh basil loosely packed at a farmer’s stand. As you can imagine, my car was filled with the aroma. I of course wanted my family to enjoy it at home.
I also knew once I put them in the fridge, the leaves would wilt. So I cut the bottom of the stems and kept them in a jar as a flower arrangement.
That lead to the discovery of basil propagation. It was a great surprise! Since then I’ve been propagating, and my friends have found it useful as well!
Let me know when you try!