I bought two basil plants last year (4 inch pots). Green Globe and a Purple Basil. They both grew well after transplanting to my back-yard herb plot. I picked it regularly, got so much I gave some to friends, made pesto and had enough for two big bags frozen. Ten plants will be more than enough.

I would use a double batch for your size family. This would require 4 cups of basil.

If you alternate, harvesting 2-3 plants back by 1/3 every 2-3 weeks you should have enough for a weekly bacth of pesto. Then leave them alone until they regrow. Be sure to pinch off the top when the plant is about 8-10" tall to encourage branching.

... and, to keep them tasting good, don't let them flower.

I'd plant a few more more of the larger leaf type..."Mammoth" has huge leaves and "Lettuce Leaf" is almost as big. It won't take many leaves of these two to pack a cup. It seems when I plant a half dozen of the regular leaf basils(for just DH and me),I never have enough to make pesto for fresh eating and for the freezer.

I had hydroponic basil growing last summer, so I was able to make quite a bit of pesto. The recipe I made said to use 2 cups of firmly-packed basil leaves. Curious, I counted how many leaves of Sweet Basil that meant. I believe that I counted 200 leaves per cup of basil. This allowed for about 3 medium-sized bowls of pasta pesto. So plant a lot of the basil!

Is basil very slow-growing?

I seeded a whole bed with it and something (I hope it was basil) came up in about twelve days, but after nearly a month, the first real leaves are just starting.

I started some seed indoors and they came up after ten or twelve days, and after putting it out, it's moving very slowly too -- no real leaves yet. Days are in the high seventies and nights around fifty. Is it a temperature thing?

My coriander seeds haven't even come up yet.

Purple and most other flavored ones, didn't do well here. Pesto can be made from a single mature plant, or more than one. Sometimes adding some dried to fresh will help to kick up flavor a bit too. Just be sure to harvest before ut starts to flower. Get plenty of garlic, olive oil and pine nuts too.

How much room ya got?

Once you make it into pesta, you can freeze it in baggies in single serving size and enjoy all winter and next spring!

Golodkin, it'll really take off once temps get and stay over 70. It's not a plant that really loves direct sowing, though.

Yeah, don't worry about too much; pesto freezes surprisingly well, assuming you add the cheese after you thaw and not pre-freezing. I'm still enjoying last year's bounty from five plants.

I second noinwi's suggestion to grow some lettuce leaf. It's one of my favorites.

Carduus, why don't you add cheese before freezing? I always do.

I dunno. I like my pesto with fresh-grated parmesan, and after six months in my freezer, the cheese part seemed to have a weird texture. I'm sure if you use it out of the plastic shaker, it probably has enough preservatives to taste decent after that length of time. But if I'm going to pay for the good stuff, I want it to taste like the good stuff.

Pastic shaker cheese?? UGH!! You might as well put sawdust in that shaker!!

If you want a GOOD cheese, it MUST be fresh grated. The BEST tasting parmesian is Parmesano Reggiano. Its very expensive (about $10.00 a pound at the wholesale clubs), but you would never go back to that canned stuff again. If you like the more smelly cheese, try a Romano, or Asuagio (sp.) These are considered sharp and the latter is a great table cheese too. I tried a zillion cheeses and would never buy or use a cheese in a can..Cheese doesn't have to be salty to be good. Except a feta, which is smelly and salty..

Never noticed a textural change and I don't use shaker cheese, LOL.

I agree that Parmigiano Reggiano is the best, but I've found Grana Padano to be a good substitute.

For a real change of pace grate some sapsago cheese into your pesto.Its intensity of flavor is beyond comparison.Use spsaringly!