Should i fertilize basil

Cuisine American. Keyword lemon basil butter sauce for fish, lemon basil compound butter. Tried this recipe? Let us know how it was! About the author Related Posts. Natalie LaVolpe. Previous Post. Next Post. Recipe Rating Recipe Rating. Newest Oldest Most Voted.

Inline Feedbacks. Gail Tubbs. Reply to Gail Tubbs. Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. Pruning basil gives you bushy basil plants, which is what you want. This might be the most important step to watch on pruning basil. It starts at minute , if you want to fast forward to this step. With proper basil pruning, one plant can produce 24 cups of leaves. Step 5 Use organic fertilizer. Basil is a heavy feeder.

She suggests fish emulsion. Follow instructions on the bottle. She does a foliar feed and sprays the leaves being careful to get the underside, too. Lily suggests for the first two months of the growing season, fertilize basil every two weeks. The rest of the summer, fertilize monthly. Step 6 Harvest basil. A layer of mulch can be applied around your basil plants. This helps keep the moisture in the soil and also prevents weeds. Grass clippings, straw or chopped up leaves work well as mulch.

Fertilizing Basil Basil plants will do well with a small dose of fertilizer every weeks. You can use a water-soluble type fertilizer or a granular product. If you choose a water-soluble type, mix it with water according to the manufacturer's directions. Apply it when you would normally water the plant. If you choose a granular type fertilizer, choose a balanced one with equal amounts of nitrogen, potassium and phosphate.

Water regularly but, again, take care to avoid overwatering. Prune your basil plants throughout the summer to facilitate new growth. Fine Gardening recommends pruning back to just two sets of leaves at planting, then repeating this every four weeks or sooner if the basil starts to flower. This kind of severe pruning will help keep your basil plants bushy. Consider growing several basil plants and pruning them alternately every two weeks, so that you always have basil to harvest.

You can grow basil indoors in a windowsill herb garden if you can provide it enough light. An east-facing window is ideal to avoid the very hot midday sun.

Its growing requirements are the same as when you grow it outside: sun, water, rich soil and regular pruning.