Genovese Basil
Fresh or dried, basil leaves are an essential ingredient in many Italian, Greek, and Asian dishes. If you love to make fresh from the garden pesto or caprese salad, you may be growing a type of sweet basil known as Genovese basil.
Genovese basil is a variety of sweet basil that originated in Italy. Its vigorous, large leaves have a sweet, slightly spicy flavor. Genovese basil produces bright green, slightly crinkled leaves that can grow up to 3 inches long. They are excellent for pesto, caprese salad, and other dishes that require large, fresh basil leaves.
- Growing Season: Most herbs and edible flowers have a peak growing season that starts in Spring and extend through Fall. Some herbs, such as parsley and cilantro, can grow year round in more mild climates and require replenishing throughout the year.
- Harvest Method: Take frequent cuttings throughout the growing season. For mild climates, a final harvest at the end of the Summer allows the herb to rebound again in Spring after a season of dormancy.
- First Harvest: Herbs grow slower and can take 1-2 months to get to a harvesting stage.
- Final Harvest: Herbs and Floral will last easily through a season. Many varieties are perennials and will become dormant in the Winter and then pop back into action in the Spring.
- Best Planted Wall Placement: As herbs mature, they can grow many roots which means they may need to be watered more often. However, herbs like to dry out between watering, so it's best to move the plants to the bottom of the Planted Wall so they do not take the water from varieties that prefer to stay moist.
We grow with the seasons! So in most climates, you will be able to grow year round. Typically most Herbs prefer warmer temperatures and will be dormant or grow very slowly in the Winter. There are different edible floral varieties that grow throughout the seasons.
You want to be aware of the extreme temperature ranges in your region. If you follow the guidelines below, you will be safe:
COLD CLIMATES
- If you live in a location where the temperatures dip below freezing, then you will want to wait to grow herbs until night temperatures are in the 50's consistently.
- On the occasional dips into the 40's or 30's, you can cover with a sheet or bring them indoors for that time period. The breeze is good for plants and helps to keep bugs at bay so growing outdoors is optimal.
WARM CLIMATES:
- If you live where it reaches above 90 degrees consistently), you'll want to grow heat tolerant fruiting plants (tomatoes and peppers) and herbs (basil, mint, rosemary) primarily.
To find out what extreme temperatures your location experiences, check out the USDA zone for your region.
We always ship our organic seedlings at their peak for transplant which means they can be held before shipping. We typically ship plants according to the following schedule:
CA - ship Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
US states outside of CA - ship Mondays and Tuesdays.
Outside of US - we do not currently ship outside of the US.
For more information, refer to our shipping policy.
Don't worry we tend to over-communicate the details when it comes to logistics. You'll know when orders (both seedlings and other garden products) are shipped.