Lemon Basil Seeds 30 Seeds

Lemon Basil stands apart from sweet basil with its unmistakable bright, citrusy aroma and a clean lemon flavour that lifts whatever it touches. Its slender, light-green leaves are smaller and more delicate than those of common basil, and the plant carries a fresh, zesty fragrance the moment you brush against it. This makes it a favourite for steeping into herbal teas and infusions, finishing grilled fish and seafood, brightening green salads, and seasoning Southeast Asian dishes — while its tidy, aromatic habit also earns it a place as a fragrant ornamental on a sunny windowsill or balcony.

Planting

Lemon Basil is a warm-season annual that is sensitive to frost, so timing matters. Start seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost, or sow and transplant outdoors only after 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 seed about 0.6 cm deep. Germination is best at a soil temperature of roughly 18 to 21 C, with seedlings emerging in about 5 to 10 days (often within 5 to 7). Thin or transplant seedlings to their final spacing once they have developed 2 to 3 pairs of true leaves; indoor-started plants are usually ready to go out about 6 weeks after sowing, once frost danger has passed. Space full-size plants roughly 15 to 30 cm apart, or 10 to 20 cm apart for cut-leaf production, keeping direct-sown rows about 45 cm apart. Choose a warm, sheltered, sunny spot that receives full sun — at least 6 to 8 hours of bright light a day. In Egypt the main constraint is cold nights below about 10 C rather than summer heat. In the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, start seed under protection or in a seedbed in late January to February and transplant out in March to April once nights are reliably above 10 C, for a long cutting season running June through October. In Upper Egypt, with its milder winters, 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. Avoid open-field sowing in the cold mid-winter of December and January in either region.

Fertilizing

Apply a low-nitrogen starter fertilizer before planting, such as a 5-10-5 blend at about 3 ounces per 10 feet of row, or a 5-10-10 blend at about 3 pounds per 100 square feet. If growth slows about 2 months after planting, side-dress with roughly 0.1 to 0.2 kg of calcium nitrate per row section as a nitrogen feed. Ground-grown basil in good soil often needs no added fertilizer at all. For container plants, give a diluted balanced liquid feed every 3 to 6 weeks; choose an organic-based balanced feed and avoid high-potassium fertilizers.

Care

Lemon Basil is not drought tolerant and needs a fairly constant supply of soil moisture, so keep the soil evenly moist. Water deeply about every 7 to 10 days — more often for plants in containers. Water at the base in the morning and avoid wetting the foliage, which helps reduce disease. Watch for common problems: diseases include basil downy mildew (fluffy growth on the leaf undersides), Fusarium wilt, gray mould, bacterial leaf spot, damping-off and root rots, while pests include aphids, slugs and snails, spider mites, whiteflies, Japanese beetles, and leafhoppers — again, watering at the base rather than over the leaves helps limit downy mildew. Pinch the terminal shoot tips regularly, at least weekly, to encourage bushy growth, and harvest young leaves as needed. For the best flavour, harvest just before flowering and pinch out flower buds as they appear; plants typically begin to flower in mid- to late summer, and flowering makes them woody and the leaves more bitter with reduced yield, so remove flower stems to keep the leaves at their best. For a full cut, take the plant back to about 10 to 15 cm above the ground to promote regrowth, and harvest in the cool of the early morning.