If you want to add a nutty, herby flavour to your meals, then basil is the key ingredient. This plant, often used in Italian cooking, is the perfect addition to pasta sauces, pizza and salads.
However, if you’ve ever bought a basil plant from the supermarket, you’ll know they don’t usually last very long. After just a couple of days, they often wilt and die, or they’re not big enough for all the recipes you want to cook. Thankfully, plant pro Louise’s Kitchen Garden on TikTok recently shared a helpful tip for anyone who buys supermarket basil, saying you can propagate it and make it last so much longer, essentially creating an ‘unlimited supply’.
How to grow bigger basil
Louise’s tutorial starts off with one very simple task – buying a few potted basil plants from your local supermarket. Then, take them out of the pots and break them up gently while the roots are still in the soil, so you’ve got a few stems per chunk.
Plant these in your garden, either using pots or troughs. Basil is also a great companion plant for tomatoes, so plant them next to each other if possible.
To make your basil bushier, prune off a few leaves, and use these cuttings to grow new plants through water propagation.
To do this, take a cutting and prune off all the leaves except those at the top of the stem. Instead, you’ll want to cut these in half.
Louise warned not to do this with any cutting that has a flower on it, because the plant will divert energy to the flower rather than the roots.
You also don’t want the leaves to be too big, as this will cause loss of moisture in the plant.
Then, grab a shallow dish and fill it with tap water before covering it tightly with cling film. Poke in a few holes and insert your cutting stems into the water.
Louise said: “This way you can ensure the leaves don’t fall beneath the surface of the water, and they sit nicely on top.”
This means the leaves are less likely to rot as well, so it’s a win-win.
Keep the water topped up as it might evaporate away, and in a few weeks you’ll start to see some ‘beautiful roots’. Transfer them into thin jars or plant them when this happens, and enjoy your ‘unlimited’ supply of basil.