I suggest starting all of your seeds that need to be started indoors in soil blocks.  Making soil blocks, which is the process of molding potting soil into cubes for the purpose of starting seeds, is an easy and efficient way to start your vegetable and flower seeds.  It promotes vigorous root growth and healthier seedlings that won’t experience transplant shock when planted out into the garden.  It also reduces plastic waste, because you don’t have to use any of those disposable plastic trays traditionally used for starting seeds.  Learn how to make your own soil blocks here.

Basil does best if it’s started indoors from seed, and then transplanted into the garden when all danger of frost and cold weather is past.  Basil seed is very tiny, so I usually purchase pelleted seed to make it easier to plant, but non pelleted seed is fine too.  Pelleted seed is seed that has been coated to give it a round, smooth, uniform shape and size.  If you get pelleted seed you can put two seeds into each two-inch soil block.  Another way you can start basil seed is by sprinkling the seed over the top of a 1" layer of fine moistened soil in a tray. For either method, you'll want to cover the seeds with about ¼” of potting soil and water gently.  Place trays into a warm place in your house, or onto a heat mat to keep them warm.  Cover with plastic to keep the seeds from drying out.  This will help the seeds to germinate faster.  Check the trays daily and remove the plastic cover as soon as the seeds start to germinate.

Place the basil trays on a seed starting rack under grow lights.  I suggest using my Budget Friendly DIY Indoor Seed Starting Setup. I like to bottom water my soil blocks by putting a solid tray underneath, and just pouring a little bit of water in them daily or every other day, just enough to keep them from drying out.

When all danger of frost is past, it’s time to transplant your basil into the garden or a pot.  I prefer to grow my basil in the garden because I grow a large patch every year and sell some to my local grocery store (see video below).  I do most of my growing on 30-inch wide beds, which is what I recommend in my garden planning tutorial.  This is a better use of your garden space than if you are planting in rows. The best spacing for basil is 3 rows 8” apart, with 4-6” between each plant in row.  To learn more about how to space the plants in your garden, download your free copy of the spacing chart below.

Keep the soil moist until the basil acclimates to it’s new growing space.  This can take a week or two depending on your soil temperature and weather conditions.  I will often set up a gentle sprinkler over my basil to make sure its getting the water it needs until their roots become established.  Once they are growing new leaves, you’ll know they are acclimated and then it’s fine to just water them with a drip line.

Give your basil about 1” of water per week.  If it’s really hot, it might need more, but be careful not to overwater your garden.  Cultivate or weed once a week, and the weeds will be easy to keep up with.  If using the fabric, I typically only have to weed them about twice during the season, because the basil will soon be big enough to shade out any weeds.  

When the basil has grown 3-4 sets of new leaves, you can start harvesting it.  To harvest it, just pinch off a basil stem that has leaves on it right above a lower set of leaves.  Keep in mind that everywhere you pinch off the stems it will branch out and grow two more stems.  This is why the bushy plants produce more throughout the growing season.

You can store fresh basil stems in a jar or vase of water at room temperature.  As long as the stems can reach the water, they will keep for a long time.  It’s a good idea to change the water every so often to keep them fresh.

Basil is best when eaten fresh, but it can be preserved for winter use by drying or freezing.  

To dehydrate the basil, place the leaves on your dehydrator trays and dry for ??

To freeze basil, blend the leaves in a food processor with a little bit of olive oil.  Place into ice cube trays and freeze.  Then put frozen basil cubes into a gallon ziplock bag and store in the freezer.  You can easily put a basil cube into soup during the winter to add some fresh taste.

You can also make homemade pesto and freeze it for a yummy dip or snack in the winter.