Give up on growing basil in the Lowcountry? Oh, never

The 1950s were memorable years for Larry and me. Our daughter was born, and I discovered the world of herbs.

Herbs, which have been used medicinally and for culinary purposes for centuries, were virtually unknown then in northern New Jersey.

One summer day, I was buying lettuce and tomatoes at an outdoor market when I came across a small plant in a pot without a label. It had bright green leaves and a sharp, pleasant odor.

I asked the vegetable stand owner what it was; she didn't know, it had just come in with her regular order. I bought it, took it home and spent days trying to scope it.

Success finally came when, in an old garden book, I found a photo of a basil plant. Used in the kitchen, it said; especially tasty with tomatoes. Basil is said to be a good companion for tomatoes, protecting them from disease and insects.

My favorite fruit was the Whopper tomato variety that I grew each summer. When we moved to the Lowcountry, I grew basil in our small kitchen garden for most of the year. I propagated that first small basil plant and learned to make pesto for the freezer and winter meals. Until two years ago.

It was then that the basil plants purchased at our garden centers began to decline. Healthy-looking when purchased, they began a steady decline and in a few weeks were dead. I had not used the leaves in cooking. I was afraid to do so.

Give up growing basil? Never. Only this year, I shall grow the plants from seed. January is good for indoor seed planting, growing in a sunny window or greenhouse.

The vegetable catalogs have arrived. I shall order seeds of tomato, lettuce, cucumber, dill, garlic and lots of basil. Why stop at a single basil variety? And since learning that all basil varieties are susceptible to Fusarium wilt or downy mildew that can be present in the seed, I shall order many basil varieties from several plant nurseries.

One of my favorites is Richters Herb and Vegetable catalog, which has 39 basil varieties. They include Eleonora basil, a Genosvese variety resistant to downy mildew, and Envigor basil, resistant to mosaic virus. A compact variety, Medinette basil is slow to bolt, especially in hot situations.

Other common basil varieties are cinnamon, lemon and anise-scented. The colorful basils are also tasty. Wine-colored basil leaves are the main flavorful ingredient that I use when I make red wine vinegar for cooking.

Lemon-scented basil makes a tasty tea that can help quell nausea. Variety Spicy Globe is the best known of the ornamental basils. It forms wide-spreading, foot-high mounds of densely branched light green foliage with a peppery taste. It is often used to outline herbal garden beds.

Legend says that to keep your home safe from harm, plant plenty of basil around it. And deer and rabbits and squirrels won't eat it.

Sixty-year master gardener and environmentalist Betsy Jukofsky has spent three decades on Hilton Head Island learning the peculiarities of Coastal Lowcountry gardening.

This story was originally published January 17, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Give up on growing basil in the Lowcountry? Oh, never."