Over the past few months, the plants came in stong. The Lemon Basil has a wonderful citrus fragrance and tender leaves. The Genovese Basil came in hardy and strong.
So far, I've harvested significant quantities 5 or 6 times, and the plants keep growing. Like thinning, harvesting crops keeps them healthy. By trimming (and eating) the basil, is helps the plants grow bushier and stronger. If I wasn't harvesting them regularly, they would have bolted, and gone "leggy".
When that happens, the plants grow tall. The end up with long stems between leaves. Eventually that sprout little flowers, stop growing, and die. Once they flower, the leaves often lose much of their flavor because most of the plants energy is now focused on reproducing by growing seeds. Regual trimming and plucking of flowers keeps the plants producing tasty leaves for as long as possible.
Here is the Lemon Basil
And here is the Genovese Basil
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