Plant highlight: Sweet Basil

We currently have five pots of sweet basil sitting on our balcony.
But since we are in need of more space for other plants, I am considering to uproot three of the five tomorrow.
The plants have started to flower, which means it is towards the end of its life anyway.
The leaves aren't looking very good and they're not growing to be as big as they did before.  But before I kill off my first herb plant, let me take you through the stages of growing sweet basil from seeds.

Sweet Basil is a pretty common herb plant, you can purchase a small plant at any garden center.  They sell for only 100php for three plants, more or less.  Pretty cheap right?  For such a versatile herb as basil, it's a great buy.
Though it is readily available, we prefer to grow almost everything from seed, just because it's fun.

It is a very easy plant to grow as the germination rate of seeds are very high. (That's also why we ended up with more than we needed).
The seeds were sown last November 2016 in individual cells with a regular potting mix.  Once the plantling emerges from the soil, it grows pretty quickly, you will see growth within the day.  This makes it the perfect plant for first time gardeners like me.  It's very encouraging when you see something you planted from seed blossom into a healthy plant.

Remember, each tiny plantling will grow into one basil plant.
I didn't think about that when I decided to bunch them up when I transplanted them into a bigger pot.  As the plants grow bigger, they need more space to spread their roots so make sure to transfer it in a rather spacious pot, per plant that is.

Just water it everyday, preferably early in the morning or in the late afternoons.
The plant thrives, even in shade.

Basil plant likes being topped off.
By topping off the plant, you will encourage side growths, this will make your plant bushier, meaning more leaves for you to use!
So please feel free to harvest from your plant often.

The plant will eventually throw out little white flowers in a stalk.  You can snip them out as they start to grow to delay the plant from flowering.
Frequent harvesting will also give you a longer harvest season off your plant.
The tiny white flowers are pretty and even decorative and edible, but the stem will start to turn woody and the leaves will be less flavorful once the plant starts to flower.

These flowers contain seeds that you can replant for another season.
I will share with you guys on another post how you can collect the seeds from the flowers and never have to buy Sweet Basil seeds ever again!