Basil

Planting window

When to sow, by microclimate — foggier blocks run a different calendar than sunnier ones.

Sunlight

How well it does at each level of direct sun per day.

Soil depth

Root room it needs — useful for sizing raised beds and containers.

Soil pH

The soil acidity it grows best in — most crops sit just below neutral, so this mostly matters for heavily amended or long-reused beds.

Spacing

Room each plant needs — along the row and between rows — for sizing beds.

Growth habit

The shape it makes in the bed and how tall it gets — what tells you whether to give it a trellis, a stake, or just room.

Habit

Upright

Mature height

1–2 ft

Stands on its own; the tallest types appreciate a stake in wind.

Growing in containers

Whether it does well in a pot, planter, or window box — the SF balcony-and-deck question, weighing its footprint, form, and staying power, not just root depth.

Happy in a pot, planter, or window box — no garden bed required.

How to start it

Sow it where it grows, or raise it under cover and set it out — and how far ahead to start the seedlings if it's the latter.

Usually

Transplant

Start indoors

6 weeks ahead

Started under cover, then set out as a seedling.

Getting started

How it goes in the ground — how deep to sow or set it, and the soil temperature it needs to wake up. The cold-soil floor is the real limiter for direct-sowing in a foggy SF spring.

Started from

From seed

Ideal soil temp

75–85°F

Sow depth

0.125 in

Time to emerge

10–14 days

Watering & feeding

How thirsty and how hungry it is — the water it wants and how much feeding the bed needs to keep it producing. In the fog belt even a thirsty crop drinks less than it would inland.

Water need

Moderate

Wants steady, even moisture — roughly an inch a week, a little more in a heat spell.

Feeding

Moderate feeder

A balanced feed worked into the bed at planting usually carries it through the season.

Keep it evenly watered so it never wilts — dry spells check growth and push it toward flowering. A moderate feeder; a balanced feed keeps the leaves coming.

Pests & diseases

What tends to trouble this crop — what it is, what you'll see, and what to do about it, least-toxic first.

USU: Basil is not susceptible to many production problems provided you rotate planting locations and maintain hygienic conditions near the plants.

Harvest & storage

How to tell it's ready to pick, and how to keep it once it's in.

Keeps

DaysBest eaten within a few days of picking.

Ready to harvest

Pinch sprigs from the top through the season and nip off any flower buds — the leaves lose flavour once it blooms.

Storing

Chilling-sensitive: keep a bunch stem-down in water at cool room temperature, not the fridge. Freeze or dry to keep longer.

Culinary use & nutrition

What it's for in the kitchen, and the nutrients a 100 g raw serving is a notable source of.

Pollinators & wildlife

What this crop offers the garden's wildlife once it flowers — often the payoff for letting a bolting plant stand.

Bees

Honeybees and natives — bumble, mason, and sweat bees — working the flowers for pollen and nectar.

Pinched for leaves, basil never blooms; let one plant run up its spikes of small white flowers instead and it becomes steady bee forage through late summer.

Companion planting

What grows well nearby, and what to keep apart.

No research-backed companion pairings for this crop — folk pairings without evidence are left out on purpose.

The classic tomato companion — planted among tomatoes it cut thrips numbers in field and greenhouse trials, and may even help the tomatoes grow. (It's recorded as a companion on tomato.)

Sources