How do I pick herbs so the plant keeps growing?
Where to cut on each kind of herb so it branches instead of stalling, why picking regularly produces more than picking carefully, and when in the day the flavour is strongest.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 4 min
Short answer
Cut soft herbs like basil and mint just above a pair of leaves, and the plant branches into two shoots from that point. Pick parsley and chives from the outside, at the base. Cut woody herbs like rosemary and thyme only into soft green growth, never into bare wood. Never take more than about a third of any plant at once.
Harvesting is the main form of pruning a herb gets, and doing it in the right place turns a single-stemmed plant into a bushy productive one. The mistakes are consistent: picking leaves off individually, cutting in the wrong place so the stem dies back, and being so cautious that the plant grows leggy and flowers.
Step by step
- Basil and other soft-stemmed herbs: cut above a pair of leaves.Follow the main stem down to a point where two small shoots are visible in the leaf joints, and cut just above them. Both grow away and the plant doubles its stems. Pulling individual leaves off leaves a single bare stalk that flowers and finishes.
- Start pinching basil early and keep doing it.Pinch out the growing tip when the plant has three or four pairs of leaves, and keep pinching every few weeks. A regularly pinched basil is three times the plant of an unpinched one.
- Mint: cut whole stems back by half or more.Mint responds to being cut hard and regrows fast. Cutting a proportion of the stems right down through the season keeps fresh young growth coming and stops it flowering and going tough.
- Parsley and coriander: take the outer stems at the base.These grow from a central crown, so the newest leaves are in the middle. Cut the oldest outer stems right down at the base and leave the centre to keep producing. Never shear the whole plant.
- Chives: cut a handful right down to about 50mm.Take a whole clump-section down low rather than trimming the tips of everything. Trimmed tips brown off and look terrible; a section cut low regrows completely in two or three weeks.
- Rosemary, thyme, sage and other woody herbs: cut only into green growth.Take the soft leafy tips, 50 to 100mm of current growth. These plants carry no dormant buds in bare old wood, so a cut into the woody base kills that stem outright.
- Bay: pick individual leaves as needed.Bay is a slow-growing evergreen and there is no need to cut stems. Take mature leaves rather than the soft new ones, which have less flavour.
- Never take more than about a third of a plant at once.The leaves are how the plant feeds itself. Stripping it leaves nothing to power the regrowth, and a herb harvested to the bone frequently just stops.
- Pick in the morning for the best flavour.The essential oils are at their highest after the dew has dried and before the sun has been on the plant, so mid-morning is the traditional and sensible time. Flavour is also strongest just before a plant flowers.
- Harvest regularly, even if you do not need it.Regular picking keeps a herb in vegetative growth. Left alone, most soft herbs flower, the leaf quality drops sharply and the plant is finished for the season. Cut and freeze or dry the surplus.
Tips
- Removing the flower buds from basil, mint, oregano and marjoram as they appear extends the leaf harvest by weeks.
- Flavour peaks just before flowering, which is exactly the moment to cut a big batch for drying or freezing.
- Sage and thyme flowers are edible and excellent for pollinators. Letting some of a well-established plant flower is a reasonable trade.
- A herb in a pot that has stopped producing has usually run out of nutrients rather than been over-picked. Liquid feed fortnightly through the growing season.
Common mistakes
- Pulling individual leaves off a basil plant — You end up with a bare stem and a tuft at the top, which flowers and finishes. Cutting above a leaf pair makes it branch instead.
- Shearing the tips off a clump of chives — Every cut tip browns off and the clump looks burnt. Cut whole sections right down to 50mm instead.
- Cutting rosemary or thyme back into old wood for a big harvest — Those stems will not reshoot. Take only soft green growth.
- Being too cautious to pick at all — An unharvested herb grows leggy and flowers. Regular cutting is what keeps it productive.
Questions people ask
Where exactly do I cut basil?
Follow the stem down to a pair of leaves with two small shoots emerging in the joints, and cut just above them. Both shoots grow on and the plant becomes bushier with every harvest.
How much can I take at once?
Up to about a third of the plant. More than that and there is not enough leaf left to power the regrowth.
When do herbs taste strongest?
Mid-morning, once the dew has dried, and just before the plant flowers. That is also the best moment to cut a batch for drying or freezing.
Should I let my herbs flower?
Not on the ones you want leaf from — pinch the buds out. Letting a proportion of an established woody herb flower is worthwhile for pollinators and does no harm.