Item Tag: Thai Basil / Húng Quế

Please look at the coins in the pic: they are quarters not dimes!!!1/4-OZ or about 7500 Sweet Large Leaf Thai Basil seeds; non-GMO heirloom 泰國九層塔Not sure why other sellers are offering basil seeds in QTY 50, 100 or 500, and sell them for few bucks. We buy the basil seeds in bulk from reputable Asian seeds suppliers & pass on the savings to you. You can share the 1/4-OZ seeds with your gardening friends, as it is way too much basil herbs for any large family to consume.Best to sow seeds in seedling trays with temperature 70F or higher. Should reach 4” high with 8-10 leaves after 5 weeks or so. Transplant onto a sunny area on a row 12” apart between basil plants; rows should be 3-ft apart. Well drained fertile soil is preferred, as Thai basil plants could wilt & die in soaking wet environment. For dry low humidity environment, mulch the soil surface around the basil plants to retain moisture. Thai basil plants should reach 18-24” tall 45-60 days after transplant. Thai basil plants do quite well in raised bed or container gardening, pots should be at least 12” in diameter or 2-gal in volume.Thai basil have green leaves & purple stems. The whole plants are edible, including seeds, flower buds, stems or even the root portion. Asians prefer stronger licorice flavor of Thai Basils than the much milder Greek/Italian varieties often seen at supermarket herb veggie section. Some of my popular Thai Basil dishes are- pho noodle soup: got to have some thai basils, bean sprouts, cilantros & slices of jalapeño peppers.- vietnamese spring rolls: boiled shrimp and/or sliced pork, wrapped in rice papers with bean sprouts, lettuce and thai basil leaves. A very healthy family lunch get together on a summer weekend! Roll the rolls in real time and gobble down half dozen “vietnamese burritos” in a hurry!- stir fried thai basil beef (or chicken, shrimp, pork), with a touch of hot thai peppers- taiwanese 3-cup chicken 三杯雞 dry stew: 1-cup cooking wine, 1-cup sugar; 1-cup soy sauce and a touch of sesame oil, hot peppers and generous amount of thai basil’s.- scrambled eggs: yes, it seems no frill stuff, but very tasty with chopped basil leaves when beating the eggs. Or simply stir fry the tender stems with leaves & flower buds intact, then add the scrambled eggs & mix it up a bit.Harvesting Thai basil tips: any stem you can pinch off should be tender eating, including the flower buds. Picking the tender stems regularly say once a week to promote branching & bushiness. To promote bushy growth, DO NOT allow any buds to flower nor seed (beautiful pagoda ornamental looking though), as significant amount of nutrients are consumed toward flowering and the plants would become tall, skinny and leaves become smaller too. Perhaps just wait until late summer or early autumn to allow flowering and seed forming, only if you want to collect the seeds for next year.Thai basil can also be propagated via cuttings, see couple pictures shown. Lots of youtube videos illustrating how easy it is to do Thai basil cutting propagation. Most cutting failures are due to either cool temperature, or the basil stems bought from local supermarkets were harvested couple weeks earlier, which yield much lower cutting propagation success rate. Fresh cuttings can easily achieve 80% success rate, if not closer to 100%, no need to use rooting hormone either.Bonus offer: buy 3 get 1 free; put in QTY 3 you will receive 8000+, 14.4 grams or half ounce worth of thai basil seeds. You can literally grow couple thousand thai basil seedling plants, give them to basil-holics, or sell them on local craigslist.P.S. #1: After the first frost, I would salvage the whole basil plants toss them into large yard waste bags (separate the root section as it require thorough washing to get the dirt off). Over the winter months, I will make 3-cup chicken stew using the dried up stems & leaves. Nothing gone wasted.P.S. #2: collected basil seeds make wonderful sweet soft drink, very soothing during hot summer days. google the recipe and enjoy!Free USPS First Class Shipping with Tracking Number, combined multiple items & save!