6 Tips for Growing Great Basil

Basil’s rich culinary, cultural, and medicinal history has earned it the moniker, “the king of herbs.” The name basil actually comes from the Greek “basilikon” meaning “king.” Though the Greek’s gave it its modern name, the Indians first cultivated basil at least 5,000 years ago. Through the years, cultures around the world have grown basil. The Egyptians used it in the embalming process, the French used it to deter mosquitoes, and the Italians made Caprese and pizza. Thankfully, with a few tips, basil is easy to grow at home so you can join the herbal tradition.

Choose the right variety for your needs.

Basil varieties are as varied as their uses. Varieties like the large Lettuce Leaf Basil and Sweet Genovese are highly prized for their culinary use in Italian food. Others like Lemon Basil and Lime Basil offer bright citrusy flavors for soups, salads, and fish dishes. A few, like Kapoor Tulsi (Holy Basil) are renowned for their medicinal use.

They also have unique styles. Red Rubin and Dark Opal offer gorgeous purple leaves. Spicy Bush Basil offers intense flavor in a compact package perfect for patio containers or even window boxes.

This is just a few of the amazing basil varieties available. Be sure to do your research before selecting a variety for your garden.

Shop all basil here.

Provide your basil with appropriate growing conditions.

Basil is a heat loving herb. It thrives in warm, sunny locations and is sensitive to frost. While you can direct sow basil, if you live in an area with cool springs it may be worth starting it indoors where you can protect it from cool temperatures.

Once summer begins, basil grows great in most of the Southeast. However, northern gardeners and those that live in mountainous areas may want to select a sunny spot that’s sheltered from the wind when transplanting out.

Protect your basil from pests.

Young basil seedlings are susceptible to damage from slugs and snails. If you frequently find these pests in your garden, it’s a good idea to start basil in containers and then transplant them. Larger seedlings are less susceptible to slug and snail damage. You can also temporarily pull mulch back from plants to destroy slug hiding places, put out homemade slug beer traps, or use place boards as slug hideouts and regularly collect the residents.

Aphids are small black or green soft-bodied insects that suck the plant’s sap. You’ll often spot clusters of them on the underside of leaves. Thankfully, they’re fairly easy to deal with, especially if you only have a few plants. Often, you can wash them off with the hose or use a mixture of dish soap and water in a spray bottle to kill them. Some folks also find that putting coffee grounds around their plants helps prevent aphids.

Basil downy mildew sporulating on the abaxial side of a leaf.
Dr. Lina Quesada, NC State Vegetable Pathology Lab

Work to prevent Downy Mildew.

Basil is occasionally susceptible to a fungal disease called Downy Mildew. When a basil plant has Downy Mildew, you’ll likely notice yellowing on the tops of leaves, usually in between veins like sun scald or a nutrient deficiency. The purplish-gray spores form on the underside of the leaf, which looks a bit like a black mold or fuzz.

Unfortunately, this disease is easy to spread. It can come from infected plants and seeds or by spores which travel long distances on the wind. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can prevent and manage Downy Mildew in basil.

  • Space plants appropriately and prune as needed to encourage good airflow.

  • Only water the base of the plants and avoid splashing water on the leaves.

  • Monitor lower leaves as this is usually where the disease begins.

  • Remove and destroy any infected plant material.

Provide consistent moisture.

Basil produces best in moist, well-drained soil. It may not need much attention in spring, but as the weather gets hotter and drier, your basil will benefit from consistent watering. Ideally, you want to water deeply at least once a week. Once your basil is beyond the seedling stage, it’s also a good idea to mulch around the plants to help hold moisture in the soil.

Pinch your basil often.

Basil is one of the amazing crops that performs better with consistent harvests. Harvest basil with a technique called “pinching.” Once your basil reaches 6 to 8 inches tall, you can begin harvesting. Use your fingers to pinch off the tips of basil stems and a few leaves about a 1/4 inch above a set of leaf axils.

You’ll notice that little shoots are beginning to grow at the leaf axils. Pinching the tips and encouraging the side shoots and creates a healthier, bushier plant.

Growing basil will bring incredible flavor to your meals throughout the season. Follow these tips for success with this royal herb.

Annual Flowers that Bloom All Season + Tips for Continuous Blooms

Annuals may only last one season, but they are an easy way to add tons of color to the garden. They are easy to grow, affordably started from seed, and are great for filling in gaps in a perennial bed or attracting pollinators to vegetable gardens. These annual flowers also offer the advantage of continuous blooms. With a bit of maintenance, you and the pollinators can enjoy them until they’re killed by frost.

Black Ball Bachelor’s Button in bloom
Black Ball Bachelor’s Button

Bachelor’s Buttons

Bachelor’s buttons are easy to grow from seed. They’re a hardy, low-maintenance option, which is why they’re often included in “wildflower” mixes. Bachelor’s buttons also make wonderful cut flowers for fresh or dried arrangements. Plus, they’re also edible and make adorable natural decorations for baked goods.

We carry three varieties of bachelor’s button:

Bachelor’s buttons thrive in well-drained soil in full sun. It will tolerate partial shade but may not bloom as well. Bachelor’s buttons are also tolerant of poor soils.

Tall Menagerie Mix Celosia
Tall Menagerie Mix Celosia

Celosia

Celosia is a good flower for beginners that makes excellent borders or cut flowers. It blooms throughout summer and fall and offers a wide selection of bright colors. Celosia has unusual flower shapes that add fun texture to fresh and dried arrangements.

The variety we carry, Tall Menagerie Mix, that includes mostly “cockscomb” or “coral” type blooms with some spikes. Menagerie Mix produces sturdy, heat-resistant 3 to 4½ foot tall plants.

Celosia thrives in well-drained, moderately fertile soil in full sun.

Memories of Mona Cosmos
Memories of Mona Cosmos

Cosmos

Cosmos offer some of the biggest bang for your buck. They’re super easy to grow from seed and provide tons of colorful blossoms over a long season. Their large flowers look stunning on their light, feathery foliage.

Cosmos are also great for attracting butterflies and come in a range of colors like white, pink, magenta, orange, and yellow. We carry six cosmo varieties.

Cosmos grow well in full sun in well-drained, average soil.

Naughty Marietta French Marigold
Naughty Marietta French Marigold

Marigolds

Marigolds are the classic companion plants for vegetable gardens. Their bright blooms attract beneficial insects all summer long. There’s some evidence that they deter pests. One study found that a particular variety we carry, Golden Guardian, reduces the presence of nematodes more effectively than chemical insecticides.

We carry nine marigold varieties in a range of patterns and colors, including yellow, orange, golden, red, and red-purple.

Marigolds thrive in moist, well-drained soil where they receive full sun.

Balcony Petunia
Balcony Petunia

Petunias

Petunias are incredibly popular though most people only find the over-priced containers of petunias at big box stores. Thankfully, petunias are easy to grow from seed in the garden or containers. Homegrown petunias will offer blooms over a much longer season and are more affordable.

We carry two petunia varieties and both will bloom until frost.

Petunias like full sun and moist, well-drained soil.

Pink Zinnias
Pink Zinnias

Zinnias

Zinnias are among the easiest flowers to grow and offer a near rainbow of colors. They bloom from early summer until frost, especially with a little care. They also make excellent cut flowers and cutting theoccasional bouquet will encourage them to branch out and create more blooms.

We offer nine zinnia varieties with a range of shapes, sizes, and colors, including white, light pink, magenta, red, yellow, and light purple.

Zinnias thrive and offer the most blooms in well-drained soil and full sun.

Tips for Continuous Blooms

Here are a few tips to keep your garden blooming until frost.

  • Space your plants appropriately. Adequate space and airflow makes for healthy plants that will bloom over a longer period. Zinnias in particular are susceptible to Downey mildew. Providing good air circulation is key to reducing the risk of mildew and other fungal diseases.

  • Follow sunlight requirements. Unfortunately, all of these plants bloom best in full sun. If you don’t have a garden bed that receives plenty of sunlight, you can grow many of these like marigolds, petunias, and zinnias in containers on a sunny patio, balcony, or even window box.

  • Add compost to the bed. Flowers aren’t heavy feeders, but they benefit from moderately fertile soil. Adding finished compost is a great way to ensure you provide nutrient-rich soil without over-fertilizing.

  • Water consistently. These annual flowers are fairly tolerant, but for the best blooms, they’ll likely benefit from some watering, particularly during dry spells.

  • Regularly deadhead your flowers. Most annual flower benefits from deadheading every one to two weeks. When you deadhead flowers like zinnias, cosmos, and marigolds it encourages them to keep blooming to try to produce seed. If you want to save seed, let some blooms go to seed at the end of summer.

Transplanting Vs. Direct Sowing

It’s planting season! Depending on where you live, you have probably already been starting seeds indoors and even direct sowing a few over these last couple of weeks. While some seeds have strict guidelines, others can thrive as transplants or direct sown crops. How do we know which crops we should start indoors and which we should direct sow? Here’s a rundown on which crops we typically transplant or direct sow and the benefits of each method.

Some Tomato (and a few Eggplant) Seedlings After Transplant

Crops You Should Start Indoors

Crops that we start indoors need to tolerate a certain amount of disturbance. They have to transition from a controlled environment to the outdoors. Inside, you control the soil moisture, lighting, humidity, and wind. Transitioning outdoors, your plants will experience harsh sunlight, varying moisture and humidity levels, and wind.

As you transplant them into the soil, the plants will also experience root disruption. Some plants, like tomatoes, thrive with root disruption. You can repot them multiple times and then transplant them into the garden with few negative side effects. Other plants, like many in the Cucurbit family, don’t tolerate root disturbance.

Many of the crops we recommend you always start indoors are warm season crops with a long growing season, like tomatoes.

Theoretically, you could direct sow tomatoes, our Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes frequently self seed outdoors, but with most varieties you’ll end up with poor results.

Tomatoes are slow to get started and if you waited for your soil to warm enough for tomato seeds, you may not get a harvest until late summer or even fall.

  • Celery & Celeriac
  • Eggplants
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers

While some of these crops occasionally self-seed, their long season and lack of cold tolerance means they’re really only productive as transplants.

Crop You Should Direct Sow

Seeds you direct sow must tolerate environmental conditions right out of the starting gate. The crops that we always direct sow are usually those we plant in high volume, like corn, and those that won’t tolerate root disruption like summer squash and okra.

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Corn
  • Cucumbers
  • Radishes
  • Turnips
  • Parsnips
  • Muskmelon
  • Okra
  • Rutabaga
  • Spinach
  • Summer Squash & Zucchini
  • Swiss Chard
  • Winter Squash & Pumpkins
  • Watermelon

While you could technically transplant some of these crops, their growing style makes it impractical.

It can be tempting to transplant crops like zucchini for an early harvest, but they’re so sensitive to transplant shock, direct sown plants often produce more quickly. If you must transplant any of the cucurbits, use a method like soil blocks that minimizes root damage.

Cabbage seedlings in a plastic tray
Cabbage Seedlings

Crops You Can Direct Sow or Transplant

There are many crops that are suitable for direct sowing or transplanting. Throughout a growing season, we may use a combination of these methods even for a single crop. We can keep things simple with direct sowing or use transplanting to handle weather conditions and grow additional successions. 

  • Basil
  • Beans
  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Cauliflower
  • Chinese Cabbage
  • Collards
  • Endive
  • Kale
  • Lettuce
  • Marigolds
  • Mustards
  • Onions
  • Peas
  • Southern Peas
  • Sunflowers
  • Zinnias

Always do your research on individual crops. Some may tolerate either planting method, but need special care to ensure success.

Transplanting Versus Direct Sowing

It’s decision time! When working with crops that can be direct sown or started indoors, there are several things you’ll need to think about.

Freshly transplanted pepper plants with potted peppers and a trowel in the backgroundBenefits of Transplanting

Transplanting has many benefits for crops that tolerate it. Starting seeds indoors gives you complete control of the environment. It’s a great way to establish seedlings with strong root systems before planting them in the garden.

  • Earlier harvest. Transplanting allows you to get a jump start on crops while the outdoor temperatures are still too cold for direct sowing.

  • More successions. Having transplants ready to go in spring and throughout the season as beds open up can help you get the most from a small garden.

  • Less waste. Planting out established transplants prevents you from needing to thin rows of seedlings. This can save you on the amount of seed you use.

  • Mulch from the start. Seedlings are easy to transplant into a bed already covered with mulch. This is ideal for folks using the no-till method with winter kill cover crops and anyone looking to cut back on weeding.

  • More flexibility. As transplanting allows you to control the environmental conditions, it’s a great way to add flexibility to your seeding schedule. Even if your spring is cold and wet, you can start plants indoors. You can also start cool weather crops like broccoli indoors during the height of summer for your fall garden.

Blooming cucumber with two cucumbersBenefits of Direct Sowing

Direct sowing doesn’t work with every crop, but for many, it can be a low maintenance solution. Getting started in the garden often makes for tough, well-established seedlings.

  • Less effort. We put less time and effort into tending direct sown seedlings.

  • No special equipment. You don’t need lights, racks and extra space, heat mats, humidity domes, or a greenhouse to direct sow seeds.

  • Better drought tolerance. Direct sown crops have the advantage of no disruption to their root systems. This means they display better drought tolerance, particularly early in the season.

  • No risk of transplant shock. If you’re not able to invest the time in hardening off and properly transplanting seedlings, direct sowing is more practical. Improperly transplanted seedlings can suffer transplant shock, which will delay harvest.

  • Easier on tender plants. Some crops like melons have fragile stems and roots. While many choose to transplant them, it can be tricky and you may lose some plants.

  • Better for high-volume crops. Direct sowing is the more practical option when you’re sowing tens or hundreds of seeds, like many gardeners do with corn, carrots, beets, and salad mixes.

Saving the Past for the Future