The Quickest, Easiest Way to Grow Basil

Basil can be grown from seed - but it's quicker and easier to buy a basil plant from the supermarket, split it up, and move it to a bigger pot.

Supermarket basil plants don't normally last very long when you get them home because 1) the small size of the pot means the nutrients are quickly used up and 2) the basils are planted very close together, which means they compete with each other and quickly fill up all the space in the pot.

Once moved into a bigger pot, they will often continue to produce leaves for a good number of weeks and sometimes months. They won't last as long as a supermarket mint plant (which, if looked after and repotted each year, can last a lifetime!), but they will last much longer than they would if left in the little pot.

You can do a similar thing with other supermarket herbs. Mint does not need to be split up as there is usually only one plant. Coriander is more tricky as it doesn't usually respond well to being moved. Parsley also doesn't like to be moved either but, after sulking for a week or two, will often recover and do well.

This video is an extract from one of the video lessons in my "How to grow your own fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs in containers" online course.