Growing Fresh Basil

Four years ago, I named this blog Fresh Basil for no reason other than I thought it was sort of cute and happy sounding. It's been my private shame that I have flat out murdered every fresh basil plant that has entered my home during that time. Until now.

I was doing it all wrong. I would try to start from seed some years, willing those tiny little plants to grow up fast so that I could finally start making pesto. I would alternate between drowning them every day, and then taking a week off of watering for fear of rotting the roots. I plucked off the most prized leaves from anywhere on the plant, thinking it was a mistake to cut the stalk. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

This is the article that changed my fresh basil growing life. All the advice is good, but my three main take-away were:

• Buy a full-grown, healthy looking basil plant. This one was from Whole Food on sale for $1.99. 
• Snip the stalk with scissors right above new leaf growth. This will help the plant grow, but not get too top heavy. 
• Water it a little - just a little - every day. I put it under the sink for literally two seconds. I actually count.

I might be getting cocky, but I think I'm ready to try mint and rosemary!