How to Prune Basil

This week, we harvested the first fruits of the 2010 season: snap peas (Oregon Sugar Pod; Sugar Ann) and basil (Genovese, the traditional pesto variety, and Lettuce Leaf, a slightly more spicy, ruffled-leaved plant).



It is important to prune basil correctly if you want to get the most out of your plants. This is very easy to do if you understand how the basil plant grows. In the picture below, you can see the growing habit of the young basil plant. This picture was taken on May 30, two weeks after we transplanted the basil. Look at the two large plants in the middle of the image. You can see how as the plant grows upward from a primary stem, new leaves sprout at the leaf nodes (center, right).


These new sprouts will grow into individual stems (center, left). If you cut the primary stem just above the leaf node, these new stems will grow strong and the plant will develop a branching habit. And you will enjoy an abundant harvest all summer.