I love basil! It’s super low maintenance and comes in more than 60 varieties. We’re talking lime basil, Thai basil, licorice basil, lemon basil, Greek basil, spicy globe basil, Queen of Sheba basil, and so many more you wouldn’t imagine. Aside from being a delicious culinary herb seasoning, basil contains many vitamins and minerals boasting a bunch of health benefits.

Much to my surprise, one of the plants that not only survived this summer, but THRIVED is the classic tender herb – basil. Our Genovese Basil produced the most, but our Opal Basil did well too. And, our Cinnamon Basil wasn’t far behind.

I believe routine pruning was one of the major keys to developing my basil bushes and keeping them strong all summer. As a practice, I don’t pinch off leaves. Instead, I cut stems right above new leaf shoots to stimulate new, bushy growth. I expect I’ll be able to get at least one more big basil harvest before the cool temps take the plants out. Basil demonstrated great hardiness this year and I can’t wait to expand into new varieties next Spring.