I like sweet basil. I've grown it for a few years and couldn't seem to kill it if i tried lol. Plus it surprisingly re-seeded itself from year to year making a nice compliment to my tomato bed this year having random baisil intermixed with it and no extra labor of actually planting it.

I love the smell of Holy Basil blooming (bees love it!). Lemon Basil and Key Lime Basil smells great when you crush the leaves. I have Cinnamon Basil but it smells like Anise, sort of disappointing. I have started Dark Opal Basil and will grow it for the foliage in the garden as well as cooking and am growing Globe Basil this year to go in front of the asparagus. Have not used basil much in cooking but plan to this coming Summer and hope to dry plenty for next Winter.

Peggy

I dearly love Genovese basil. It is hardy (even I can't kill it), has a lovely taste--just basily enough without being overpowering; and has large leaves that dry well.
One of my favorite summertime appetizers, especially when serving Italian for dinner, is to spread a thin film of cream cheese on a large basil leaf, roll it up, and serve with thinly sliced tomatoes, or with cherry tomatoes.

I like the large-leafed basils the best, easy to harvest and clean, good flavor without being overpowering.

I'll second Genovese basil; it's delicious with fresh tomatoes, in tomato sauce, and pesto.

Jon

I love genovese basil for all-around use, it's so productive and hardy it will give you plenty for summer cooking as well as to freeze for winter's use. However, the best basil flavor I have ever experienced came from a less productive "Mammoth Leaf" basil. It has such a strong perfect "pesto" flavor! I love Italian Sweet also.

Often the condition of the plant is more important to flavor than exact variety. Older plants, esp. those that have been flowering and have slowed leaf growth are a little (or a lot) bitter and less sweet and pungent with that great sweet basil flavor.

I believe genovese and sweet are the same? apologies if this is not correct. The only one I did not grow from seed.

We grew sweet (what I think is Genovese) and also Valentino basil. Very large leaves, somewhat wrinkled, great for pesto. Purple (opal) basil has a wonderful flavor to me, looks amazing, but maybe slightly less productive than the sweet. It will make great pesto too.

I also grew Siam queen, or Thai basil. It goes very well with asian dishes, look very nice with the purple center and purple flowers, but I would not use it for pesto. One thing I can say about it is that it seems more cold hardy, it is the only one in the garden that is still alive now.

I did not care for the lemon basil or the cinnamon.

I will plant again: genovese (sweet?), valentino's, thai and opal (purple). Your growing conditions might be different, so trying a few and seeing what does best is always a good idea.

Siam queen is my favorite especially for asian dishes. They are great in any kind of meat stir fry. You can also use them with stir fried eggplant or peppers. They are also very pretty with their purple green leaves and flower heads. I do find that they grow slower than Italian basil so I plant more of them to have enough for cuttings.

I have Genovese and Thai Basil both growing in a hydro unit now. The Thai is growing quicker, by far. I tried Thai in the garden last year and it was great - one could almost get high just smelling your fingers after plucking some leaves.

Mike

Mike is a very talented and innovative grower. You will learn a lot from reading his posts and asking him questions.

Darn, mjha, what's this endorsement is gonna cost me?

For the record, mjha has a book about basil. Probably knows as much about it as anyone in the country.

Mike

I find in my garden that Thai Basil is more susceptible to wilting and not coming back if it dries out - it really seems to like water. Its less forgiving in this than Italian Basil, but I don't think any basil should be let go bone-dry at the roots anyways. I would also agree that it seems less productive, but 2-3 plants always provide enough for our limited use. It has a *fantastic* aroma, although not the right one for Italian dishes if you're a traditionalist. 'Siam Queen' Thai Basil has pretty purple bracts and flowers but early in the season I always pinch them out while still small as soon as I see them (purple tips to the shoots). Later in the season I will let them flower.
Purple sweet basil seems less productive in general. I do like the Cinnamon Basil for ornamentation and scent although I don't know a lot about its utility for cooking. I did find a great recipe online that used it in a punch. I think it was steeped in hot water with lavender flowers and other things then combined with lemonade. It was pretty tasty; my wife's sister put some dry white wine in hers and that was pretty good too!

Love the Thai basil that would be my vote.

Mine always dies.

I'm going to try again this year though,

I still have oregano & parsley from last year.

I hope it hangs on.

I haven't had great luck with basil, but I'm a beginning gardener. The one I brought indoors this year died off. Dunno if it was too close to the cold window or if I had under or overwatering.

10 years ago in my random plant neglect phase, I got lemon basil, and thought it was good on stuff like green beans. It died quickly.

I've got Thai and regular basil. I like eggplants, and figured the Thai basil would be good with that.

Alice

befrosted

Most culinary oreganos of the genus Oreganum are hardy perennaials, although the Italian oregano is not quite as winter hardy as the Greek. Parsley is a biennial and will end its life cycle when it sets flowers and then seeds late next Spring.

Thanks mjha.

I guess I'd better plant more.

Anyone have any idea how late you can transplant basil after growing it indoors?

canuckistani

When weather is settled and nights warm, harden off the indoor, pot grown basil by taking it outdoors for several hours daily.

Then, prune it,(eat the prunings) remove it from the pot, tickle its rootball and plant it in full sun in a rich soil with adequate moisture.

This is the same procedure with any plants grown indoors to be moved outdoors and planted in the garden.

Ditto's to Genovese. In fact, yesterday evening I used a chunk of frozen basil in a red sauce. (As noted above the basil can be quite prolific. So I towards the end of the season I took a sink full of cleanded leaves, loaded the food processor, pulsed a few times, loaded again, and continued to repeat this process until the bowl was at capacity. The chopped basil was then pressed into plastic freezer containers for use over the winter. I just take the basil block out of the container, place on a chopping board, chop off a few chunks with an ice pick, and put the remaining block in the conainer and back into the freezer.)

Forgot to add to the above that I use the same process for cilantro.. (wish we had an edit feature on this site...)

I mainly grow sweet basil, Genovese basil, and Red Rubin. This year I am trialing Aroma 1 from Territorial Seed. It is supposed to be a genovese type with later flowering and more disease resistance. I make lots of pesto every year and I like to combine sweet and genovese. I am going to try the direct to freezer method this year also.