Pick the Flowers Off Your Growing Basil

Published on Tuesday, September 8, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Pick the Flowers Off Your Growing Basil

Julie Chai, associate garden editor of Sunset magazine, suggests that home gardeners remove the flowers from basil plants as they appear. By plucking the flowers you are keeping the herb in a prepubescent state, which will taste a lot better, and less bitter, than “older” basil.

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  • I grew some purple basil in my garden this year, but HATED the astringent taste it had. so I put in in a pot and let it go CRAZY! The smell is fabulous, bees adore it and it looks amazing as a cut flower. As a nice flower arrangement for your dinner table is so nice because it won't clash with food flavours the same way an overly perfumed arrangement might...

  • easier said than done; you have to really keep at it once they start to flower--it's all about seed production, baby.

    A better practice is to start off by pinching the plant back when you set it out to begin with. This will redirect the growth hormones from tip (it's called apical dominance) to each and every side 'node'( the area where a stem or leaf branches out from the main stem). Viola!...+READ

    easier said than done; you have to really keep at it once they start to flower--it's all about seed production, baby.

    A better practice is to start off by pinching the plant back when you set it out to begin with. This will redirect the growth hormones from tip (it's called apical dominance) to each and every side 'node'( the area where a stem or leaf branches out from the main stem). Viola! many side shoots all racing to produce flowers, rather than one or two. Much earlier harvest of leaves than if you wait till the lonesome main stem starts to bud before pinching back. It also gives the plant time to get a good root system going (strong root system = huskier plant) before it has to put all it's energy into flower production.

    (This pertains to all annuals--remember the bedding-pack cheer:

    "PINCH 'EM BACK, PINCH 'EM BACK, WAAAAAAAY BACK."-COLLAPSE

  • I bought some basil with large flower stalks at the farmers' market. My aim was to tempura them the way my mom used to use shiso flower stalks. (Being the youngest of five, I spent the most one-on-one time with Mommy & acquired a more nihon-jin palate than my siblings. So this was a special treat that she & I shared, while Daddy smacked my brothers for grumbling about the lack of red meat.)

    ...+READ

    I bought some basil with large flower stalks at the farmers' market. My aim was to tempura them the way my mom used to use shiso flower stalks. (Being the youngest of five, I spent the most one-on-one time with Mommy & acquired a more nihon-jin palate than my siblings. So this was a special treat that she & I shared, while Daddy smacked my brothers for grumbling about the lack of red meat.)

    While the basil leaves were lovely & flavorful, sadly the flowers had no flavor at all. Oh well, the basil wrapped fish was perfect!-COLLAPSE

  • The same goes for mint and many other flowering herbs.