Leonard Moorehead, The Urban Gardener: Basil, King of Herbs

Leonard Moorehead, The Urban Gardener: Basil, King of Herbs

Woven into the garden fabric are many threads. Tug a thread or two and a garment unravels, a knot or tight weave binds together. Basil arrived in America with European and Asian immigrants who found much in common under auspicious basil. Few garden treasures are as magnificent as basil, known to ancient Greeks as basileus or“king”, the ruler of herbs. Regal distinction is natural to basil, its 160 named cultivars trace lineage thousands of years into pre-history. Intensely fragrant, sun-loving, and responsive to pinching back, basil is ideal for urban gardeners. Basil thrives in pots and all varieties share the same desire for hot sunny days and well-drained soil of moderate fertility. No herb celebrates hot summer days as much as basil. We pass through the eye of the needle and unite in favor of glossy green leafed Sweet Basil, the most common broad leafed garden variety. There are many more worf and woofs to this herbal fabric, Asian types include Thai and Vietnamese varieties of shorter height and colors each served fresh in salads, Nim Chow and soups.

I came to basil later as a gardener, my ancestral background in cool, wet, extreme north Western Europe sailed across the Atlantic with little more than faith and hunger. Italian neighbors introduced us to basil.  Although known to English herbalists, basil’s cultivation points towards Mediterranean and south central Asian homelands. Horizons expand within the American garden; urban gardeners quickly exchange all sorts of cultivars and introduce one another to cuisines and new tastes. On doorway steps, tight back yards, and window sills, even those suspicious of the ordinary tomato succumb to legendary basil.

Left gone to seed, basil reliably starts year to year from seed or cuttings. Tradition claims St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, found basil growing at the site of the True Cross. Nearly 2,000 years later, basil remains a fixture on alters of the Orthodox faiths and is used to sprinkle holy water on believers. Basil is a central ingredient in Italian and Asian cuisines, food based Hindu Ayurvedic medicine is supported by science. Anti-oxidants, anti-viral and antibacterial properties are packed into basil. Health is universally essential regardless of background, we’re better for basil. 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Science tells us basil is packed to the brim with thiamine, beta-carotene, and niacin. Integral anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties endow basil as a premier companion plant as well as important to urban gardeners. Basil blooms during summer’s dog days. The undistinguished flowers signal a turning point in the plant’s life. Snip off the blooms at the nearest leaf juncture, don’t compost, and bring to the kitchen. Pinch off the growing tips of stems to encourage lateral growth and harvest the lower leaves first. Basil loses flavor in heat, add to your favorite Italian dishes not long before serving. Dried basil has much less punch than fresh leaves and has a different flavor, much as does its relative, lemon balm, Melissa officinalis. Freeze fresh basil or much more popular, create your signature pesto. Pesto has as many versions as chefs, ultimately all are mixtures of the best olive oil you can afford, mashed garlic and as much basil as possible. Refrigerated, pesto is potent and keeps. Add a dollop to your favorite pasta dish or soup, pesto goes a long way. Basil naturally compliments another sun lover basic to the urban gardener’s kitchen garden: rosemary.

Rosemary is essential to all cooks. It’s assertive yet subtle pine flavor is a beginning to understand the merits of this shrub. Once rarely found fresh in markets, rosemary is a Mediterranean dietary staple. Like geraniums, rosemary likes well drained sandy potting soil that dries out between watering. Most gardeners keep rosemary in large pots in direct sunshine. Trim off the growing tips for fresh use in the kitchen. Adjust to taste as everyone else. The trimmed apical meristem or growing tip encourages lateral branch growth. A handsome plant of dusty green, rosemary is elegant and lends itself to shapely forms. Give potted rosemary a quarter turn when watered for well-balanced form.  Tough and sturdy to all but extended cold, rosemary is most often kept as an affordable annual despite its long life in its native habitat. Easy to dry, I keep sprigs of rosemary hung near the stove along with dried hot peppers. Some of us extend its use bottled up with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the divine infused flavor brings sunshine and happiness into winter homes.

Rosemary is not winter tolerant in my zone 6 garden unless protected in a well-insulated cold frame. It’s ok to resist re-potting as the shrub thickens and appears to need more room. Pot bound rosemary thrives as long as it can dry out once in a while. Indeed, rosemary is stalwart to all but hard cold. Lucky green thumb types are known to winter over rosemary indoors. More likely, they slowly succumb to drafts and darkness; hope a litter of dropped needle like leaves around the pot.  Mine has survived record snowfalls and extended periods of freezing weather in cold frames when the pot is deeply sunk into the soil. Heap shredded leaves or your favorite mulch nearly burying the plant. Cross your fingers, appeal to the spiritual side, and leave alone. Resist uncovering the pot until a few weeks before the last frost date. Too passive for you? Turn to other spring chores and remain hopeful. Rosemary can return outdoors when spring is firmly established. Bright green growth at the end of the few tips is the signal. Keep an eye on the potted plant, if a late spring frost is on the horizon or a snow squall threatens, bring inside for momentary protection.  Why go to such lengths? Flavor, robust nutrition, and the aura of thrifty endurance are your reward. Defy consumerism and protect rosemary, the essential culinary herb.

Summer harvests preserve plants at their peak. Some however may be kept in the ground for almost year round delight. Do not overlook parsley are commonplace or a disposable garnish. Parsley is a major component in my garden. A biennial, parsley forms deep tap roots. The deep roots delve beyond humus and topsoil. The roots seek nutrients far below the surface and suggest the plants intention to live not only through the summer but throughout winter to form umbrella shaped white blooms. Parsley grown in heavily mulched gardens offers welcome green when all else huddles, cabined, cribbed, confined. Freshly cut stems from the perimeter allow the center plant to produce more growth. Each leafy stem is full of nutrition. High levels of vitamins, especially vitamin C, and trace elements brought up from deeply buried subsoil are obscured by parsley’s tangy flavor. Garden grown parsley is a champion. Gardener’s seek the highest qualities plants offer and parsley is an outstanding example. Homegrown is simply miles ahead of the competition.  

Moreover, parsley holds an important role in companion planting. It encourages other plants in the garden, survives and often prevails over faster growing, taller neighbors. Some gardeners approach the garden much as a spreadsheet or graph, so many yields from so many square inches. Parsley conforms to this approach but offers so much more. Its deep taproots do not thrive in pots. However, parsley is the perfect edging plant. It remains in place, not to roam or send out-runners. Always handsome deep green parsley forms bright narrow borders along the sides of growing spaces. Abundant yields raise its status from the flavorful to virtually a vegetable in its own right. Provide parsley with plenty of sunshine, friable soil made by double digging its plot, twice the depth of the typical spade succeeds for me, flip the topsoil to the bottom and raise the subsoil to the surface.

Parsley seeds are very slow to germinate. I’ve never had the patience to start seedlings vulnerable to dampening off and intolerant of drying out. Purchase a couple six packs of nursery grown plants in early spring and harden off in the cold frame or plant directly in the ground. There is debate between aficionados regarding the relative flavors of the two commonly sold varieties, the flat leaf or curly leaf. Abandon the debate, grow both! The flat leaf or Italian variety is certainly tasty. The curly leaf is the most intense green outside of Ireland. Both are virtuous. Their merits are beyond judgment, both are worthwhile. Many gardeners harvest parsley virtually year round although some find thick mulches find their way into the kitchen with the harvest. Freeze or dry parsley. Both techniques retain the herb’s flavor and nutritional value. Or perhaps you’re aware of parsley’s deserved reputation as the antidote to garlic’s enduring odor. Not every diners conforms to “if one all must”, eat garlic.  A sprig of parsley freshens the breath and removes garlic from the conversation.

A culinary paradise is available to urban gardeners. Consider basil, rosemary and parsley as basic to the garden wherever you plant. Every dish will rise above the day, far past expectation and well worth the effort. 

Leonard Moorehead is a life-long gardener. He practices organic-bio/dynamic gardening techniques in a side lot surrounded by city neighborhoods in Providence RI. His adventures in composting, wood chips, manure, seaweed, hay and enormous amounts of leaves are minor distractions to the joy of cultivating the soil with flowers, herbs, vegetables, berries, and dwarf fruit trees.