Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Organic Seeds – Classic Genovese-Type Culinary Herb, Fragrant Aromatic Leaves, Great for Pesto & Italian Cooking

Minimum: 100+ Seeds

The Classic Genovese-Type Herb for Pesto and Italian Cooking

Few herbs define a cuisine the way basil defines Italian cooking. Brush a leaf and the scent hits at once, sweet, peppery, and warm with clove, the aroma that goes into pesto, sauces, and caprese salads all summer long. This classic Genovese-type sweet basil grows fast from seed, produces large, tender, deeply fragrant leaves, and keeps producing as long as you keep picking. This is organic, open-pollinated seed, true to the variety Italian kitchens have relied on for generations.

Who Grows Sweet Basil?
The home cook wanting fresh, fragrant leaves for pesto and Italian dishes.
The beginner gardener wanting a fast, easy, forgiving herb for a first garden.
The container gardener wanting a productive herb for a pot, window box, or patio.
The seed saver interested in an open-pollinated variety that breeds true.

What This Classic Culinary Herb Actually Is
Ocimum basilicum is a tender annual herb in the mint family, grown worldwide for its aromatic leaves. Genovese-type sweet basil is the classic Italian culinary form, with large, glossy, slightly cupped green leaves and the sweet, peppery, clove-scented flavor that makes it the traditional choice for pesto. Plants grow bushy and upright, typically 18 to 24 inches tall, and branch readily when the tips are pinched, producing more leaves and delaying flowering. Small white flowers appear in summer and attract bees, though flowering signals the plant to slow leaf production. As an open-pollinated variety, it breeds true from saved seed. Grown as a warm-season annual, not frost-hardy.

In the Garden & Kitchen

• Fresh pesto: Blend fresh leaves with olive oil, garlic, nuts, and cheese for classic Genovese pesto.
• Caprese and salads: Tear fresh leaves over tomatoes and mozzarella or into green salads.
• Sauces and pizza: Add at the end of cooking to preserve the full, fresh aroma.
• Drying and freezing: Preserve a summer surplus by freezing leaves or blending them into oil.
• Container herb garden: Grow in a pot near the kitchen door for easy picking.
• Pollinator support: Let a few plants flower to draw bees to the garden.

Growing Sweet Basil Seeds

• Start method: Start indoors 4 to 6 weeks before last frost, or direct sow after soil has warmed.
• Germination: Sprouts in 5 to 10 days in warm soil.
• Soil temperature: Germinates best between 70 and 85°F.
• Spacing: Space plants 10 to 12 inches apart for bushy growth and good air circulation.
• Sunlight: Full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours daily.
• Soil: Rich, well-drained soil with good fertility supports the largest, most flavorful leaves.
• Watering: Consistent moisture; water at the base and avoid soaking the leaves.
• Pinching: Pinch growing tips regularly to encourage branching and delay flowering.
• Harvest: Pick leaves often once plants reach 6 to 8 inches, cutting above a pair of leaves.
• Days to maturity: Typically ready for first harvest in 60 to 70 days from seeding.
• Hardiness: Grown as a warm-season annual; killed by frost and chilled by temperatures below 50°F.

Before You Close This Page
This is the basil that earned its place in the garden by tasting like what basil is supposed to taste like, sweet, peppery, and unmistakably Italian. Sweet Basil grows fast from seed, rewards regular picking with a steady supply of large, fragrant leaves, and fits in a garden bed or a single pot by the door. It's open-pollinated and easy to save seed from, ready to become a summer staple. Grow the herb that makes the pesto.