There’s nothing like fresh basil on your delicious dishes to make them tastier. Harvesting its leaves is not only important for your dinner plans, it’s necessary for keeping your plant healthy and strong. If you want a big production of basil on regular basis, pruning plays a precious role when growing your plant. So, we are going to see how to prune basil to get the healthiest and biggest crop yet!
Basil is an aromatic herb that goes great in Asian-style dishes, salads, juices, and anything you think of. Well, it is also an easy herb to grow and can be started indoors in flats or outdoors in the garden after the last frost has passed. The kitchen is the best place which is very convenient and thrives easily on a windowsill.
Generally, basil seedlings will sprout within 4-7 days and can be easily thinned when they have two leaves. Transplant them in the ground 12 inches apart and make sure to keep the plants consistently moist. Check out pruning basil plant in 3 simple ways.
Here are simple 3 ways to prune basil:
How To Prune Basil In the Right Way:
Step 1:
Look For Large Leaves:
Start pruning the basil plant by looking for a set of large leaves. Where the base of each leaf meets the stem, see another set of small leaves or very small green knobs.
Step 2:
Cut The Middle Stem:
If your basil plant is growing vertically, pinch the small leaves from the top leaving ½ inch of the stem if possible to encourage its lateral growth. The small leaves will grow out in place of the once cut stem between them and surprisingly you’ll get 2 or three new stems instead of one.
Step 3:
Continue The Same Process Until You Get The Desired Size:
You should continue cutting the middle stems until your plant is at the desired size or just leave it as is. Continue doing this throughout the growing season to have your basil all around.
Never cut the leaves that are close to the bottom of the plant, because it needs a steady base for its healthy growth.
Even though pruning basil leaves seem counter-intuitive, but it does more basil in a quicker amount of time. Just give a thought of getting regular trims of your hair- your hair is healthier, beautiful, and will grow even better than before!
So, as you know how to prune basil plant. It’s time to get into work to have fresh basil always.