Herbs · Warm
Basil
Lamiaceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 25 cm
- USDA zones
- 5a–11a
- Frost-sensitive
- yes
- Growth duration
- 10 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- partial shadeAlso okay:full sun
- Soil (prefers)
- loamyAlso okay:raised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- normal
Seed & start
Pre-culture recommended
Start indoors / cold frame first, transplant into the raised bed later.
Stachi's tip
Basil wants warm, sheltered, and next to a tomato. Always pick the top leaf pairs and it'll branch bushy. Nip off flower spikes the moment they appear — otherwise energy goes into seed-making instead of leaves.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Avoid these neighbours
No known conflicts.
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
What comes after Basil?
When the bed frees up, the season is usually not over. We worked out what still fits afterwards — with time windows and reasons.
See follow-on crops for Basil →Sources
- Kreuter, Bio-Garten
- Kosmos Gartenkalender
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Crop rotation
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: Kreuter, Bio-Garten · Kosmos Gartenkalender · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
Articles about this plant
Basil is flowering: what to do right now — and why the flowers aren't the enemy
When basil starts flowering in July, most people think: it's done for. It's not. Two minutes and one cut — and the plant carries on. What's happening inside the plant and what I've learnt from it.
Aphids in the raised bed: what really helps in June — and why I don't spray anymore
First it's a few, then they sit in dense colonies on the shoot tips. Aphids are part of June. What works without poison, what's a waste of money, and who does the work for free.
Zucchini in a raised bed: why one plant is enough — and how to carry it through summer
One zucchini plant, two mistakes, a summer full of fruit. Watering, mildew, harvest: what the plant actually needs, without the garden jargon.
Harvesting herbs the right way: cut, don't pluck — then they keep coming all summer
Basil that's bare after three weeks. Parsley that won't come back. Usually it isn't the plant, but the way it's harvested. The difference is a single cut.
What goes into the bed in June — and what's already too late
June isn't the final sprint, it's a second start. What you can still plant, what you sow directly, and which crop to skip because that ship has sailed.
Companion planting table for raised beds — the pairings that matter
A companion-planting table to print: good neighbours, bad neighbours, three all-rounders. Plus the five pairs that get you 80 % of the effect — if you only want to remember five.
Related plants
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.