When much of a Georgia garden starts to droop in late June, basil is just getting going. It loves heat, sun and long days, and a single healthy plant can produce more leaves than one household can easily use. Brush against it and your hands carry its sweet, peppery, faintly clove-like scent for an hour. Few herbs say summer so clearly.
A herb with a royal name
The name basil comes from the Greek basilikon, meaning royal, and the herb has long been held in something like reverence. Sweet basil, the kind most of us grow, is thought to have originated in tropical Asia and spread west over many centuries to the Mediterranean, where it became inseparable from the cooking of Italy and southern France. Pesto, the famous basil sauce, comes from Genoa and the surrounding region of Liguria.
Basil has a place in literature, too. In a story from Boccaccio’s Decameron, later retold in John Keats’s poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil, a grieving young woman keeps a pot of basil that she waters with her tears. It is a melancholy tale, but it shows how closely the herb was woven into everyday life and imagination.
A sacred cousin
Holy basil, known in India as tulsi, is a related species with a sweeter, spicier, more clove-like scent. In Hindu tradition it is considered sacred, and many households keep a tulsi plant in a special container in a courtyard or by the door, where it is cared for each day. If you grow holy basil, you may notice how different its fragrance is from the familiar Italian kind.
Growing basil in a Georgia summer
- Plant after nights stay warm. Basil dislikes cold and can be damaged by temperatures below about fifty degrees.
- Give it full sun and steady water, especially in pots, which dry out quickly in July.
- Harvest from the top, cutting just above a pair of leaves. The plant will branch and grow bushier.
- Pinch off flower buds as they appear to keep the plant producing tender leaves longer.
- Keep cut basil in a glass of water on the counter, like a bouquet, rather than in the refrigerator, where the leaves tend to darken.
Simple ways to enjoy it
Tear a few leaves over sliced tomatoes with a little salt and olive oil. Drop a sprig into a pitcher of cold water with lemon slices. Set a small vase of basil stems on the kitchen windowsill, where the scent drifts with each breeze. Or just pause in the garden, rub a leaf between your fingers and take a slow breath.
Basil essential oil appears in some blends, but it is strong and should always be well diluted. Keep it away from children and pets, and talk with your doctor before using it during pregnancy or if you have a health concern. For most of us, the living plant is the better pleasure: green, generous and at its best in exactly the heat we would otherwise complain about.