How to Cut Basil for a Full Harvest All Season Long
Learn how to cut basil so you’ll have full luscious plants to harvest all season long. Use this technique when you need basil in a recipe or you’re pruning your plant for optimum growth.
Harvest Garden Herbs: dill, chamomile, rosemary, parsley, chives, chive blossoms, lemon balm & mint.
The key is to trim or cut your basil early and keep at it throughout the season. This will force the plant to grow extra stems – one cut stem will be replaced by two new stems. And, in a few weeks you’ll be able to trim those back and double your stems again. See where this is going?! By forcing the plant to focus on producing new stems and leaves, it won’t produce flowers or seeds as quickly. More branches and less flowers equals more basil for you!
Learn More: How to Split and Transplant Basil, How to Dry Basil in a Dehydrator, Air Drying Basil.
How to Cut Basil
Start from the top of the stem and work your way down until you find a spot where two sets of new leaves are growing. Just above this intersection is where you cut using scissors or gardening shears. Later in the season, when you have more branches, repeat this process on each branch. Always cutting the top crown.
Be sure to leave some large leaves toward the bottom of the plant, at least two sets of leaves. These are the plant’s solar panels and are necessary for the plant to convert the sun’s rays into the energy it needs to continue to grow.
How to Cut Basil
Ingredients
- 1 bunch or plant Basil
Instructions
- Cut your basil early and routinely throughout the season.
- Regular cutting forces the plant to grow extra stems – every 1 cut stem is replaced by 2 new stems! By forcing the plant to focus on producing new stems and leaves, it won’t produce flowers or seeds as quickly.
- To make a cut, use scissors. Find where 2 sets of tiny leaves are emerging at the stem. Cut on the stem between the tiny sets of leaves to encourage full, bushy growth.
- Later in the season, when you have more branches, repeat this process on each branch. Always cutting the top crown.
Video
Notes
Here’s a short video showing you exactly how to do it. Followed by some photos.
See how the stem has a clean cut right above two new sets of leaves.
If you try to pinch the stem with your fingers, you risk injuring the plant, like I foolishly did here. It really is best to use scissors!
When to Cut Basil
Ideally, you should start to cut basil early in the season, when the plant is about 6 inches tall or has at least 6 leaves. In fact, great greenhouses will prune their basil plants before they put them out for sale. Those are the plants you want to buy. Short and bushy is better than tall and spindly.
Basil can be cut back every two to three weeks throughout the season as needed.
However, if you do have a tall plant, just cut it back by following the steps above.
What Not To Do
Don’t just pull a leaf from here and there. When you pluck one leaf at a time from random spots you are just depleting the plant without encouraging regrowth. Eventually, if you pluck too many leaves, especially the nice big ones – your basil will not be able to capture enough sunlight to continue to grow and it will be done. Or it will grow tall, spindly and send out a flower at which time it stops leaf production.
When you cut it from the top as demonstrated above, you’ll encourage branches to extend from the sides. Each of those branches will grow crowns that you can harvest just like shown above. Then those branches will grow into more branches and so on. See how that goes! By the end of the summer you’ll have sooo much basil you’ll have enough to make your own pesto just like you see everyone else on social media doing!
More Basil Tips
- Basil is very sensitive to cold and frost, at any hint of frost be sure to cover your basil plants or be ready for basil season to be over.
- Basil leaves are quite sensitive and will bruise quite easily, use a gentle hand when handling.
- Basil prefers to be watered from the bottom, those sensitive leaves prefer not to have water poured over them.
- Cut any flower blossoms to encourage continued growth.
How to Store, Preserve and Use Basil
That was easy, right. Now that you have some lovely basil tops, here are some options for what to do with them.
- How to Store Fresh Basil
- Six Ways to Preserve Basil
- How to Dry Basil in Microwave
- How to Dry Basil in Dehydrator
- How to Air Dry Basil – Hang Dry
- Basil Pesto
- Bruschetta
- Bread Salad with Basil and Veggies – Panzanella
- Basil and Bean Salad
- Green Bean, Basil, Tomato and Feta Salad
As I write this, it’s early in the season. I just planted my basil and cut them back. I think I’ll take those trimmings for tonight’s pizza! Yum! What’s your favorite way to enjoy fresh basil?
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Select, store and serve seasonal food for everyday cooking with Getty. Getty is a food educator and Professional Home Economist, who loves sharing tips and recipes following the seasons from her Canadian kitchen. Sign up to get seasonal tips and recipes delivered to your inbox. Learn more about Getty or check out her books and pdf guides.
Thanks for the cutting tips. One recipe I LOVE with basil is a basil and feta pesto. I mix fressh basil leaves, feta cheese (I love the real Greek one), olive oil and plenty of frensh garlic. I but everything in the blender, starting with the basil leaves and oil, the Inadd the garlic clove and finish by the feta chese that I crumble and throw in, a little bit at the time so it mixes well with the other ingredients. It’s delicious on crusty bread as an appetiser or on frsshly cooked and warm pasta. YUM!
Claude, this sounds delicious! I bet it’s fabulous on pasta. I’ll have to try this next time I’m cutting some basil!