Sustaining Fresh Basil Throughout the Winter
>> Wednesday, September 2, 2009
One of my goals this "offseason" (as if there ever really is!) is to maintain a constant supply of fresh basil from November to April. I could do this by simply planting a sequential crop of basil seeds every couple months. This will work but I have an easier way! Basil is one of those nifty plants that grows roots very easily. So easily that just putting a few cuttings in small jar of water by a sunny window will result in an an almost 100% success rate.
Before the basil plants began to fade in their pots I'll take a few more cuttings and start the process over again and hopefully keep the fresh basil growing until spring when I can plant the plants outside again. This is also a great way to make more basil plants throughout the year for planting in the garden.
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13 Comments:
What a great tip - I didn't realize you could do this with basil. I hope my windowsil will be sunny enough!
What a wonderful idea. It's certainly worth a try! I'm going to pass this along to my daughter, as well. :-)
Cool! I didn't know basil rooted so easily. Will have to try this.
Great tip! I love basil and use it in a lot of my cooking (or I should say, my husband does--he's the cook) :)
Hi Dave, I have some in a jelly jar on my kitchen window very full of roots. Should it potted in soil, or just keep taking cuttings and placing them in water? They do root so fast, it is amazing! :-)
Frances
I have cinnamon and sweet basil in the gardens now, I'll be taking me some cuttings when the sun comes up!
Ginger,
There are many herbs that will root in water like this. I haven't tried many others but mint and rosemary come to mind.
Thanks SD!
Connie,
It's another alternative to making pesto or basil cubes and freezing them.
Miss Daisy,
Basil is one of the best herbs. We use it in quite a few things too, especially when accompanied by a tomato!
Frances,
I would pot them up to make them last longer. I suppose you could set them up hydroponically but that would be more work. Your sunroom would be a great place to keep them!
Darla,
One of the cuttings I took was cinnamon basil. I just dropped in some purple leaf basil into some water this morning. I'll see if we can maintain a nice colorful basil display this winter!
My basil does this when I put it in pots. I usually just blend mine with oil and freeze. I'd probably forget about it being on the counter and it would die, then I'd lose all my basil. Perhaps I'll try this in addition to freezing and see what happens.
Much easier than seeds for sure.
Fantastic Dave! Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely be trying this.
Thanks, Dave! Great idea!!!!
Great tip Dave! I want to keep mine going too for pesto, pasta sauce etc...Hope it works out for both of us. :)
Great idea! We were just out picking some. It's so expensive to buy fresh during the winter that I usually don't. I will definitely give this a try.
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