Blossoming basil opens up a variety of options

Content

• Blossoming basil opens up a variety of options
• To prevent the flower for a long herbal enjoyment
• Blooming basil - so you enjoy the flowers
• Blooming basil - this is how you harvest the seeds
• So sowing succeeds
• Tips & Tricks

Blossoming basil opens up a variety of options

As early as July, basil leaves the first flowers. Contrary to popular belief, kohl weed does not become poisonous now. Instead, hobby gardeners now have the choice of different options. You can find out which ones here.

Early article Maintain basil competently - a condensed overview Next article Harvest basil correctly - Instructions for bed and pot

To prevent the flower for a long herbal enjoyment

With its flowers, the herbal plant attracts busy insects as pollinators. In this way, basil pursues its central goal of multiplying as many as possible. Only from pollinated flowers can seeds develop, which turn into new plants after germination. Therefore, the king weed into the flower invests all its energy, which is done at the expense of the aroma in the leaves.

As flowering basil simultaneously stops growing and gradually dies away, experienced herbalists consistently counteract this process. The following measures will prevent or at least postpone flowering:

Harvest at the latest when first buds show up. The cutting of the shoot tips also contributes to a further branching and a bushy habit. What is not used fresh in the kitchen is suitable for freezing or drying. Although flowering basil is still edible, it tastes unpleasantly bitter. By harvesting the branches in time, experienced hobby gardeners preserve the wonderful aroma.

Blooming basil - so you enjoy the flowers

As a labiate, flowering basil is a feast for the eyes on the bed and on the balcony. Depending on the variety, white, pink or purple flowers unfold. Not enough, the flowers are edible. Because their taste is slightly bitter and less aromatic than the leaves on the tongue, gourmets use basil flowers as a decoration on salads or to garnish warm dishes.

In addition, flowering basil offers a delicious variation for the kitchen, as it provides the most important ingredient for the unique basil flower vinegar. To do this, add 80 flowers in 200 milliliters of white wine vinegar and add 15 leaves of king cabbage and peppercorns to taste. Strain through a fine sieve after four weeks and fill in a bottle - done.

Blooming basil - this is how you harvest the seeds

Anyone who can not get enough of the charming flowers of the royal krawn leaves nature running its course. Flowering basil develops during the autumn rich seed stems, which are ideally suited for the propagation by sowing. After all the flowers have withered, the 1-2 mm small fruit ripen inside the calyx. First pick the withered leaves. Then you harvest the seeds like this:

Keep the harvested seeds in a cool glass container in the dark glass until next spring.

So sowing succeeds

In April, the time window for sowing the self-collected seeds, which spawned a blooming basil the previous year, opens. Since weed no longer tolerates temperatures below 10 degrees, only sowing behind glass is considered. Before mid-May, basil should not be planted outside. How to sow royal cabbage correctly:

Within 5 to 14 days, the cotyledons break out of the seeds. A possible cover has now fulfilled its task. If the seedlings reach a height of 5 centimeters, they are piqued. Now spoil your pupils for the first time with a very dilute dose of liquid fertilizer. By mid-May, they will develop into vigorous seedlings to be planted in the bed or pot.

Tips & Tricks

On biennials of basil, flowering does not affect the aroma of the leaves. Flowering basil in this case does not stop growing and does not develop seeds. You can thus enjoy the pink and purple flowers while harvesting rich shoots. In addition, a hibernation in the house is possible.