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My aunt's basil tip saved my first balcony harvest
My aunt told me to pinch off the flower buds as soon as they show up on basil, not wait like I did last season. I tried it this spring on my 4 pots and the leaves got way bushier, I got a solid 6 cups from just two plants. She said it forces the energy into leaf growth, and honestly it worked like a charm even with only 5 hours of sun on my 6th floor balcony. Anyone else swear by this trick or do you let some bolt for seeds? I'm curious if it slows down later harvests.
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claire37829d ago
My neighbor Rosa taught me the same thing two years ago and I thought she was crazy until I tried it. I had two Genovese plants on my fire escape and after pinching every single bud for about 8 weeks, I was picking leaves every other day for pasta and pesto. The only downside I noticed was that by late September the plants did slow down and got a little woody, but honestly I had so much frozen pesto by then it didn't matter. I let one plant bolt just to see what would happen and the leaves turned bitter fast, so now I'm team pinch all the way.
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