Bountiful Basil

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Photo by Joanne Will

Several years ago, we had a significant mildew issue with our basil. We pulled off a small crop, but since we depend on basil to brighten our entire year, we set out to select for mildew-resistant lines. I wrote about this in the December 2017/January 2018 issue, and I’ve had quite a few requests and letters since then asking me to report on the outcome of those experiments. In a nutshell, that blighty year, we saved seed from the least-affected individuals and later mixed it with seed of several cultivars we obtained from various commercial sources — hoping for the highest genetic variability we could readily obtain. The following year, we scattered that seed in various raised beds, in containers, and on worked ground. To say we had a bounty of basil that year would be an understatement. We had some mildew, but not as pronounced as the year prior.

Having had our fill of various types of basils that year, we again saved seed by gathering mature fruiting stalks, bunching them, and hanging them upside-down from a light fixture in the dining room near the woodstove. The following spring, we took those bunches and whacked them on the surface of flats that we set under grow lights, and later, we whacked them right onto the soil in the beds where we planned to grow basil. What we experienced was an explosion of incredible diversity. Some plants resembled the cultivars we started with, but most were obviously crosses among the types, with lovely colors and a full gradient of basil flavors, from sweet to spicy. We saw no blight or mildew or any disease in the basil that year.

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