Basil, the herb, has always been a big favorite with me. It’s so aromatic and pretty in the garden, and there are many fun and delicious ways to use it in the kitchen. If you are a basil-lover, too, you can enjoy rooting this herb late in the winter to brighten your windowsill and be able to get your basil producing earlier in the garden.
I did this for garden basil regularly over 40 years ago when we were young newlyweds, but had totally forgotten about it! It’s an old time way to perpetuate basil from one year to the next (without seed). Did you know that you can cut 5-6 inches of the pretty leafy tops off of the thicker stems, put them in water, and watch them grow roots?
When I searched online for ‘Basil from cuttings’, I found you can indeed start it from the store-bought herb as I remembered, so I decided to look for it in the grocery’s refrigerated section where they often have fresh cut herbs.
Stretch your money, even in little ways
If I’m already buying it fresh for a tomato dish out of season, it seems wasteful to sow it from seeds or buy plants later when I can start a few plants for my garden in the window this way!
Directions for Rooting Basil:
It is as easy as:
• Snipping the bottom two sets of leaves off of a basil stem and leaving the top two or three sets of leaves on the stem
• Place that stem into a glass canning jar or glass of water
• Place it in a sunny window
• When roots are visible, transfer into a pot of soil and keep watered while the cuttings get established
• You can also place directly outside into the fertile soil of your garden once the weather is quite warm and all danger of frost is past. Frost will kill basil!
I will also show you how to re-grow celery from cuttings, as well as green onions on your windowsill. As spring draws near, and there is very little green to be found (in our climate, at least), it is fresh and pretty indeed!
Once planted outside, basil will quickly grow into a small shrub and easily repay you with enough fresh, silky leaves to make into prestos, use in orzo-stuffed tomatoes (see recipe), or snip onto an heirloom tomatoes and fresh Mozzarella Caprese salad.
This is fabulously fresh and oh, so Italian! Drizzle with balsamic and basil-infused olive oil (see below)!!
During the growing season of summer, you can also infuse the leaves into olive oil for several days, then drizzle onto crusty bread warm from the oven with cheese. That is one of my favorite flavors of infused olive oil!
Acclimatizing Your Basil Starts For the Garden
Putting your starts outside in the sun for short periods in a protected area (think wind blowing your glass jar over) to harden them off before planting in spring is a good idea. You can also root more tops inside in the fall to extend the season.
You will be a master gardener before you know it!
If you decide to grow Basil from seed there are many different varieties named after the leaf type, flavors such as cinnamon, anise, and lemon, and colors to choose from! The choices are seemingly endless. Greek basil is on the left below.
Basil has a rich history of having many health benefits. Dr. Axe has a good list.
And rooting basil is a great first science lesson for your little people to do!
“As a gardener, I’m among those who believe that much of the evidence of God’s existence has been planted.” ~Robert Brault
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JES
Our favorite is basil on a baguette, with fresh mozzarella and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sea salt… The finest of summer foods! Thank you for the gardening tip! We are growing some as we speak 🙂
Amy
I’ve got celery growing in water right now because of your previous post =) I’ll have to get some basil at the store and try this too. I grew it from seed one time and didn’t do that great with it. Maybe this would work better for me =) Thank you for so many great ideas!
Pom Pom
Awesome! I’m going to do it!
I had already purchased seeds, but I’ll do both! Thank you! 🙂
Julie Helms
Just wondering if you could tell me what went wrong. Last year I grew a celery plant from a supermarket stump. It did splendidly and grew just amazingly. When I went to harvest it I realized that it had grown as almost a solid piece. I had something the size of my forearm in solid thickness, not nested stalks like normal. There were a few nested stalks around the outside, but the core was not like that. Then we tasted it. It was like celery on steroids. It may have worked to flavor a stew with a very small piece but it was so powerful that there would be no nibbling on this with peanut butter or cream cheese. Any thoughts? I’d like to try again, but I want normal celery!
Jacqueline
Julie,
I am not sure, but I do have an idea! Celery needs just a lot of water. In my comment to Charlotte, I mentioned what I want to do for my cabbages…I may as well plant the celery nearby and keep them moist, too. I think when it is under stress ( high heat and low water) that it may cause that super concentrating of the flavor and tough center core. If you do it again and alleviate the problems, let me know, please! Mine weren’t thick like that they just didn’t grow really tall like from the store…those under cultivation are babied with irrigation, compost, and often heavily sprayed. 🙂
Charlotte Moore
I tried this twice from your previous post. It did not work. I know now it was too hot. Need to try again. I am not a gardener but I thought this sounded easy. My husband has a small garden and with his job it is almost too much.
BLESSINGS!!!
Jacqueline
Hi, Charlotte,
I hope you are having a restful and blessed Lord’s Day! I am thinking that I would like a soaker hose on both my celery and on the cabbages, so I might plant them in the same box and put up a little rain barrel on one end that I can fill from the bigger one by the house. They grew great when I kept them well watered! Don’t wear yourself out, dearie!
sandie goldstein
onions, I start onions from the ends of onions I cut, water or dirt.
Karen
Thanks for sharing about the Basil! I hadn’t realized that you could do that…I currently have scallions and romaine lettuce on my windowsill. An interesting tidbit, I bought romaine from two different stores. The first two I cut the bottom off and stuck it in water. The very next day, I saw very tiny green growth happening in the middle. The second group, I did the same thing to, however, there was a “solid” core in the middle that didn’t do anything for days. After about a week and half, I started to see some small leaves popping out more toward the outside of the cutoff bottom. I never had that happen before. So, once you cut your romaine, look at the center and see if there are “folds of leaves” or a solid core.
The scallions I have cut twice now and they are still going along nicely. I will try the Basil next! 🙂
Jacqueline
Isn’t it neat to have a little Garden of Eden on your windowsill?! I think you must have a green thumb, my friend! I WILL look! Cool!
I think of you often and hope you are doing well!!
Toni
That’s a great idea!
My celery is in a raised bed and slurping a lot of water. I can’t wait to harvest it. It may not get really tall, but any will be good. 🙂
Bethany
Oh thank you for this post. I followed your link to the celery and it’s just the motivation I needed to do it. I’ve thought about it before but you just talked about it and we just bought some celery – so now I have no excuse!
Anna @ Feminine Adventures
Love this idea! I wonder what other plants can be started this way. (Gonna have to go search!) I stored basil seeds from last year, but it wouldn’t hurt to try both ways. 🙂
Christy, The Simple Homemaker
Oh boy, I’m super excited to try this! We gave up our house and raised garden beds on an acre for a Christian music mission on the road (7 children in a travel trailer touring the USA). I miss gardening, and so do my dearlings. They’ll have fun with this…if it can survive the traveling. 🙂 Thank you!
Jacqueline
Christy, It is so neat to know a little about your life and what the Lord has you doing right now. Now you can have a garden on the windowsill! be safe and keep singing for Jesus!