I love this dwarf basil. They make such nice little well-behaved plants. I want to make some pesto but I can hardly bear to cut it.



I have too many cucumber plants in this box. I lost a few to wilt early on so I planted a bunch of seed to compensate. Now of course they are all thriving and I just can't pull any.

Lol - I know what you mean Pogo. Which is one reason why I stopped growing "Globe" basil. It makes a lovely border plant & the scent is wonderful when you're weeding around it, but harvesting any more than just a few leaves here & there ruins that wonderful natural ball shape.

What I ended up doing was growing regular basil types for all-season use, & waiting until just before the first basil-killing frost was predicted to pull up all the Globe basil & make pesto with it to freeze for the winter. Since it was going to die anyway (basil is SUPER frost sensitive), I wasn't losing anything at that point.

That's a great strategy, Breezy!

How much basil can you harvest without doing the plant in, so you think?

I harvested some from my spindly plants I transfered out of total shade (since everything around it grew bigger) to total sun about 10 days ago. They look NOTHING like pogo's beautiful picture, and I fear if I posted the sad truth, you all would tell me to just put them out of their misery and start afresh!

At this point in the season I can harvest approximately one-third of the top growth from my basil (regular "Sweet Genovese" type) & still get enough growth for more harvests before frost (which, around here, is usually some time in mid/late October). HOWEVER, that's from lush bushy plants that have been growing in full sun.

If your plants are weak from growing in too shaded a location, I'm not sure I'd do much harvesting beyond pinching off a few tips. And if they're in as bad shape as you describe, perhaps it might be best to just harvest the entire plants & start fresh. But of course that also depends on where you're located. You should post that info in your profile. We promise we won't hunt you down in person - lol!!!