On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 02:26:04 GMT, jrstark wrote:


I have a Purple Ruffles Basil that I bought more for the garden and than
the kitchen, it just started blooming. Can I just deadhead the flowers?

The preferred method for maximum basil leaf production is to pinch
back/trim/clip the tips of stems, incl 1-2 pair of small leaves, as
soon as they look as if they're even *thinking* of flowering -- that
is, the tiniest little bundle of buds getting ready to spring up. By
the time the stem flowers, "deadheading" is likely to just produce 2
more flower stems, and you must prune lower to try and encourage leaf
growth.