How to Grow Lime Basil

Fill 2-inch-tall peat pots with potting soil. Sowing the seed into peat pots allows you to plant the pots directly into the ground, which causes less stress to the plants.

Water the soil in the pots until it drains out of the bottom, to eliminate air pockets and to help the seeds grow. Insert the pots into a tray with side walls.

Place one or two seeds on top of the soil in each pot. If planting one seed in each pot, place it on top of the soil in the center of the pot. If planting two seeds, leave a 1/2-inch space between them.

Cover the seeds with a 1/16-inch layer of potting soil. If the seeds have too much soil over the top, they won't grow, because they need light to germinate.

Cover the pots with clear plastic and set them in a sunny window. The plastic helps retain humidity and moisture, which helps the seeds germinate. It takes about a week for the seeds to germinate.

Check the seedlings several times a day for moisture. Water the pots daily to ensure the soil is constantly moist but not soggy.

Remove the plastic cover when the seeds have germinated. Continue to keep the soil moist.

Dig up the garden area when the temperatures are warm and there is no danger of frost. Choose a sunny location and amend the soil with 2 inches of compost. Lime basil needs three or more hours of sunlight per day.

Transplant the basil outdoors then the basil has two sets of leaves. Pinch off the bottom two leaves. The daytime temperature should be 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dig a hole into the soil with a trowel. Insert the peat pot and stem of the lime basil plant into the hole. Bury the lime basil plant up to the section where the two leaves were pinched off. Firm the soil with your hands. Water the lemon basil plants and them place a layer of mulch around them to conserve moisture.

Remove any flower heads that form. To prevent the basil from having flowers, pinch off the top sets of leaves when the plant is 6 inches tall. If the flowers are left to grow, the stems of the lime basil will grow lanky.

Harvest the top third of the lime basil after the plant has grown. When cutting off the leaves, examine the lime basil stem and locate the two tiny leaves growing upwards just below the two top leaves. Make the cut close to the tiny leaves, but don't damage them.