Last edited by shiny on November 11, 2026. View history

Basil

Ocimum basilicum WD
Also known as sweet basil (EN) common basil (EN) basilic (EN) Basilikum (EN) Basilienkraut (EN) basilico (EN) albahaca (EN) basilkort (EN) raihan (EN) basilicum (EN) manjericao (EN) bazilik (EN) maboki (EN) lo-le (EN) Basilici herba (EN) Aetheroleum basilici (EN)
161
plantings
33
harvests
17
seed packets
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Basil facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
20 weeks median lifespan
First harvest expected 8 weeks after planting
Last harvest expected 8 weeks after planting

Row Spacing

30cm median of members' seed packets

Germination

9–14 days median of members' seed packets

Days until maturity

70–90 days median of members' seed packets

When to sow

Southern hemisphere Sep–Mar
Northern hemisphere Mar–Sep
median of members' seed packets

Grown for

leaf harvested 30 times
Optimal temperature 18–27 °C
Absolute temperature 7–36 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 1000–1600 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 600–4300 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 6–7
Absolute soil pH 4.3–8.2
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

80–270 days
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For basil, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 80 days at its best temperature, about 1240 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your basil will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing basils

  1. Sow seeds indoors 6 weeks before planting out
  2. Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
  3. Water regularly at planting out every week
  4. Pinch out the growing tips 3 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
  5. Pick leaves regularly at first harvest every week
  6. Pinch off flower buds 8 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
  7. Pull out finished plants 12 weeks after first harvest

How members grow basils

Sunniness

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Planted from

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Harvested for

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Varieties of basil

Image of cinnamon basil

cinnamon basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of dark opal basil

dark opal basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of fino verde basil

fino verde basil

Ocimum basilicum piccolo
Image of genovese basil

genovese basil

ocimum basilicum
Image of holy basil

holy basil

Ocimum tenuiflorum
Image of lemon basil

lemon basil

Ocimum × citriodorum
Image of lettuce leaf basil

lettuce leaf basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of magical Michael basil

magical Michael basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of mammoth basil

mammoth basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of nufar basil

nufar basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of osmin purple basil

osmin purple basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of purple ruffles basil

purple ruffles basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of red rubin basil

red rubin basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of spicy globe basil

spicy globe basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of sweet basil

sweet basil

Ocimum basilicum
Image of Thai basil

Thai basil

Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora

Plant basils with

grape tomato

Photos

Basil crops

Basil plantings

genovese basil
genovese basil
by cropbot
basil
basil
by shiny
IMG_20190408_151617
IMG_20190408_151617
by shiny
IMG_20171214_195654
IMG_20171214_195654
by shiny
THAI BASIL
THAI BASIL
by midiprincess

Basil harvests

2020-01-29_10-14-58
2020-01-29_10-14-58
by shiny
20250419_122158
20250419_122158
by shiny
20250419_145116
20250419_145116
by shiny
20250419_124543
20250419_124543
by shiny

Basil seeds

IMG_20180331_184432
IMG_20180331_184432
by shiny
More photos

Video

Where basils grow

Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.

What people are saying about basils

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Growing well and germinations

by Doveoscar,

Upper greenhouse Radishes growing well, coriander, basil, spring onions and mixed lettuce/salad leaves all germinated and growing.

Patio greenhouse Tigerella tomatoes many germinated, small plants still onl…

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Lifespan and harvest predictions

by shiny,

Something i've been working on is the predictions on GrowStuff.org. If you go to you gardens page there's now a progress bar for each annual planting. That's plantings that are expected to complete there lifespan in 2 years or less . the progress bar is % until the plant is finished a…

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Seedlings, bed prep, pink blueberries

by maco,

Most of the seeds I started a couple weeks ago have sprouted and gotten going. It looks like I will need to pick up one black beauty eggplant, one butternut squash, and one basil plant. And maybe oregano …

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Coming together

by shawnacscott,

This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…

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Getting ready for spring!

by maco,

I've got seeds either on-hand or ordered for just about everything I'm starting from seed this year. I've been working out what I want to plant, and this is the plan I've come up with for the 72 square feet of my backyard raised beds:

![garden plan](http://mackenzie.morgan.name/t…

arugula arugula basils beet beets cabbage cabbages cauliflower cauliflowers cucumbers eggplant eggplants garlic kale kale lettuce lettuces onions oregano parsley Hungarian wax pepper Hungarian wax peppers bell pepper bell peppers zucchini zucchini yellow summer squash yellow summer squash butternut squash butternut squash sweet potato sweet potatoes tomatoes super sweet 100 tomato super sweet 100 tomatoes chamomiles
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New to gardening

by rubygeek,

Hello, I've been programming since I was 13 and I love Ruby have done it the past 7 years. I recently got into gardening because my husband said I needed to do something besides "code" :) And I am finding it super fun!

I wanted a house plant, I have two big window seats. I think Iv…

basils
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No subject

by oakandsage,

My raspberry are flowering!

Anyone whose english pea plants yield spherical peas must be a saint. I only get spherical peas if I miss a pod. In the evening I sit out in the garden and eat peas until there is nothing worth eating left on the plant. Then I am done…

raspberry raspberries peas asparagus asparagus chard kale kale melon melons rhubarb carrot carrots dill basils squash squash cherries nectarine nectarines apple apples pomegranates blueberry blueberries
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A photo related to this post

Another week, another heap of things planted

by Skud,

I really should've got started on winter planting sooner, I think. Everything in the garden is in a lull right now. Although people near me are still blogging about the last of their crops from summer, all we have still going are some chillis and some basil. Lots of things …

basils zucchini zucchini celeriac celeriac chives chives beans lavender pumpkin pumpkins
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Image of basil

Who's planted basils

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Basil harvests

View all basil harvests

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Find basil seeds

Nutritional data

A summary of nutritional data per 100g for Basil, green, fresh, raw.

Energy 94.0 kJ
Protein 2.6 g
Fat, total 0.5 g
Carbohydrate 0.2 g
Fibre 3.3 g
Sodium 10.0 mg
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Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 80 to 270 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Ocimum basilicum L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Asteridae
Lamiales
Labiatae
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth shallow (20-50 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium
Optimal soil fertility high
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours)

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

Learn more about basils

Resources outside Growstuff.