What's this?! A basil that plays nice?!

[jcosmo]

All 3 pods were planted on 2/06. 13 days later, the basil isn't towering over anyone! I haven't started a thread for this garden over in The Garden Patches because I don't know how long I'll be keeping it, but wanted to show everyone the Emily basil from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds. This is how the catalog describes it:

Compact version of the classic Genovese type that is superior for pot culture, having shorter stem-length between leaf nodes. Widely recognized to be longer-lasting when cut, all of which make “Emily” a better subject for market growers and home gardeners.

Without further ado, here's the little herb garden so far:

[MaryL]

Fantastic!  I love hearing about new varieties of the beloved Genovese basil and trying them. Most recently was Corinne’s Dwarf Greek Basil which has been a really fun grow and I love the flavor.  Now I will look forward to trying Emily as well.  Thanks for finding this variety

[drbanks]

Amazing

[jcosmo]

It's Day 28 - first rinse/refill - and the basil STILL hasn't taken over the entire garden!

[Shawn]

If it were me I would remove some of the large leaves.  That will help with its growth, at least it does mine.

Lots to use...Cook Away!!!

[jcosmo]

Thanks, but this is actually exactly what I'd hoped for when I purchased the seeds for this variety. I have more uses for dill and chives than for basil, so its slow/compact growth is perfect. On the other hand, I am now pruning the dill daily! When I had an herb garden in a Bounty, the basil overshadowed the dill so much that I almost never pruned it.

[MaryL]

I love it!

[MaryL]

Just ordered some!

[jcosmo]

It's unbelievable how close the leaf nodes are... I clipped the tops of several branches to harvest some basil for a caprese salad and the clipped stems that were left on the plant and the cuttings were so small, they can hardly be seen in these pictures:






Look at the density of the new leaves coming in!

[Shawn]

How does this basil taste?

[jcosmo]

It tastes a lot like the Genovese basil that came with the AG herb kit, but a little stronger.

[MaryL]

That reminds me I ordered some of these and need to go through our snail mail. I love how compact it is.  

[Happy]

The photos that some of you have posted with your dwarf basils show such healthy, happy and CUTE plants!

I ordered and just received these two basils:

Piccolino Basil Seed
"Genuine spicy, sweet Greek basil flavor."

Pluto Basil Seed
"Aromatic Greek basil flavor."

I think that I selected them because they were in the "Suitable for Hydroponics" section of JohnnySeed.

[Happy]

Johnny's Pluto basil and Piccolino basil both have done beautifully. I think that the Piccolino, below, might have slightly larger leaves than Pluto, but they both are beautiful and tasty.
(Planted when??? Started in my Harvest and moved to my Classic 7 LED)

[Shawn]

These look like mini shrubs, cute.  I have one of each growing.

[MaryL]

Very tidy looking.  A breath of fresh air as far as basil gardens go.

[maritessbakas]

Mar 25, 2018 5:12:18 GMT -5 Shawn said:

How does this basil taste?

How many days from seeds?

[maritessbakas]

Nov 17, 2018 17:42:04 GMT -5 Happy said:

Johnny's Pluto basil and Piccolino basil both have done beautifully. I think that the Piccolino, below, might have slightly larger leaves than Pluto, but they both are beautiful and tasty.
(Planted when??? Started in my Harvest and moved to my Classic 7 LED)

Where did you order the seeds? What are they again? And how many days from seed to that photo?

[Shawn]

maritessbakas, basil is a pretty fast grower.  The Pluto and Piccolino Basil is a Greek Basil.  These seeds were from Johnnys.   I never really looked to see how long from seed to plant but it germinates in a couple of days.