Big up the basil!
Posted by Matt | 
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Today, I’m writing about basil, which is one of my all time favourite herbs. It has an anise, sweet, almost minty taste, which is essential when cooking many Italian dishes. I always use basil when making a tomato sauce for pasta, a pizza, and bolognese sauce, as well as cottage pie. Mixed with pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan it makes delicious pesto, the recipe for which you can find here.
You can obviously buy it dried, but I’ve recently discovered just how easy it is to grow on a sunny windowsill. I bought my plant from a local supermarket for a couple of pounds, but you could buy one from a garden center, or even grow from seed. Here’s some of my own and researched tips for growing a basil plant on a windowsill:
- Place the plant indoors, in a bright spot which gets around 6-8 hours of sun a day
- Ensure the plant has good drainage
- Water 2-3 times a week, making sure the soil doesn’t completely dry out
- Mix a couple of drops of plant food in with the water once a week.
Basil is a pick and come again herb so as long as you look after the plant it should keep on growing, giving you a nice supply to use with your cooking. When it comes to harvesting pick the biggest leaves first, cutting just above the set of leaves directly below on the stem. Try and always leave a few leaves on the plant. After a big harvest treat the plant by giving it a few drops of food in some water, as this’ll give it a little boost.
That’s just about it. If you have your own successful techniques for growing basil or any other herb, maybe even outdoors, then please share them in the comments or submit your very own post!
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I always have a pot of fresh basil on the windowsill. My top tip for growing basil is to water it from the bottom – put the water into the saucer or dish that the pot is resting on. I don’t know why, but mine always fair better by doing this!
Ah yes you’re right! Mine are the same too!