Overgrown Basil

Oh MY!  Is it hot and dry here!  I'm afraid we are headed for a repeat of last summer's heat and drought.  Thank goodness it waited a little longer to start this year.  I am trying not to think about it.


One good thing is that the hot weather does not appear to be slowing down my basil plants.  See below.

Notice how it is beginning to flower in this picture.  That is a "no no" for basil and it is important to clip those flowers off before they go to seed.  Otherwise, the basil plants will quit producing leaves and put all their energy into making seed.  This gets done on Friday evenings when I harvest it for the farmers' market on Saturday.


Here is a picture of my preparation for harvesting.  I bought this little stool for Tom for his birthday, but it comes in handy for me too!  The seat is padded on both sides.  So, if you turn it over, it can be used as a "kneeling" bench.

When the basil plants get over grown like this, I generally cut them back pretty severely.  In fact, I  will cut several inches off the top of the plant, like this.

When I get finished with a plant, it looks like this.

Believe it or not this plant will regrow to its original size in a week or two.  And as long as it is watered, then it should last all summer.