Basil Seeds 25g

Basil is one of the most loved kitchen herbs, prized for its warm, sweet-peppery aroma and tender green leaves that lift salads, sauces, and fresh dishes. It is a warm-season annual that thrives in heat and sunshine, making it a rewarding herb to grow on a sunny balcony, in a pot on the windowsill, or out in the garden bed. Pinched fresh and used the same day, its fragrance is at its finest — a generous, leafy plant that keeps giving the more often you harvest it.

Planting

Basil is frost-sensitive, so timing matters. You can start seed indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost, or sow and transplant outdoors only once all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. Wait until nighttime temperatures stay consistently above 10 C before moving plants outside. Sow the seed about 0.6 cm deep, covering it lightly. Germination usually takes around 5 to 10 days and is best when the soil or media temperature sits near 18 to 21 C, with seedlings often emerging within 5 to 7 days; basil also germinates well at about 20 C. Give plants a spot in full sun with at least 6 to 8 hours of bright light a day — they tolerate part sun but prefer a warm, sheltered, sunny site. Space full-size plants roughly 15 to 30 cm apart, or set them closer at about 10 to 20 cm apart if you are growing for cut leaves; direct-sown rows are spaced about 45 cm apart. Once seedlings have developed 2 to 3 pairs of true leaves, thin or transplant them to their final spacing, and move indoor-started seedlings outside about 6 weeks after sowing, once frost danger has passed.

Fertilizing

Basil grown in good garden soil often needs no added fertilizer at all. If you do feed, a low-nitrogen starter applied before planting works well. Should growth slow down about 2 months after planting, you can side-dress with a calcium nitrate nitrogen feed — roughly 0.1 to 0.2 kg per row section — to keep the plants pushing fresh leaves. For basil in containers, give a diluted balanced liquid feed every 3 to 6 weeks; an organic-based balanced liquid feed suits potted plants well, and it is best to avoid high-potassium feeds.

Care

Basil is not drought tolerant and likes a fairly steady supply of soil moisture, so keep the soil evenly moist. Water deeply about every 7 to 10 days, and more often for plants in containers. Water at the base in the morning and avoid wetting the foliage, which helps reduce disease. Pinch the terminal shoot tips regularly — at least once a week — to encourage bushy growth, and pinch out flower buds as they appear, since flowering makes the plant woody and the leaves more bitter with reduced yield. Plants typically start to flower in mid- to late summer, so removing flower stems keeps leaf quality high. Watch for common pests such as aphids, slugs and snails, spider mites, whiteflies, Japanese beetles, and leafhoppers, and for diseases including basil downy mildew, Fusarium wilt, gray mold, bacterial leaf spot, and damping-off; watering at the base and keeping the leaves dry helps limit downy mildew. Begin harvesting young leaves as needed, taking them in the cool of the early morning for the best flavour, and for a full cut take the plant back to about 10 to 15 cm above the ground to encourage regrowth.

Sowing Time in Egypt

Basil is heat-loving and frost-tender, so in Egypt the main thing to avoid is cold nights below about 10 C rather than summer heat. In the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, start seed in protected or seedbed conditions in late January to February, then transplant outdoors in March to April once nights are reliably above 10 C, for a long cutting season running from June into October; avoid sowing into the cold of mid-winter. In the warmer Upper Egypt, the frost-free window is wider, so transplanting can begin a few weeks earlier, in late February to March, and a second autumn crop is feasible — just provide consistent moisture and some afternoon relief during the most intense summer weeks, since basil is not drought tolerant. Because germination is best at 18 to 21 C, the Egyptian spring naturally hits the optimum, while peak summer from June to August is the main harvest period before flowering. Open-field sowing in mid-winter (December to January) is not advised in either region because of the cold nights.