Plucking basil leaves one by one is why your plant gets tall and bare—here’s where to cut instead

You buy a full pot of basil, pick the biggest leaves whenever you need them for pasta or pesto, and a couple of weeks later, there's not much left but a thin stem with a few leaves at the top.

It can look as though the plant has simply run out of steam. But the way you harvest it may be part of the problem.

Instead of pulling off individual leaves, there's a better place to make your cut. Get it right, and the plant can send out new shoots and become much bushier.

And if your basil came from the supermarket, there's another reason it may struggle once you bring it home.

Why plucking individual leaves can leave basil looking bare

Basil grows from its stems, and the points where pairs of leaves emerge are important when you want the plant to branch.

When you simply pluck off a large leaf, you remove the leaf but leave the main stem growing upwards. Regularly harvesting the growing tips, on the other hand, encourages the plant to produce more side shoots.

That's why gardening advice recommends cutting basil stems just above a pair of leaves rather than stripping leaves from the sides.

The small cut that makes a big difference

Look down the stem until you find a pair of leaves growing opposite each other.

Cut the stem just above that pair of leaves.

New growth can then develop from the node below the cut, giving you two growing points instead of one. As those shoots grow, you can repeat the process to keep the plant compact and productive.

You don't need to take a huge amount at once, either. The Old Farmer's Almanac recommends harvesting no more than about a third of the plant at a time.

And when flower buds appear, pinch them off if you want to keep harvesting leaves. Basil naturally starts putting more energy into flowering as it matures.

Your supermarket basil may be several plants

There's another reason supermarket basil often disappoints.

That lush little pot may not be one plant at all. Supermarket basil is commonly grown with lots of young plants packed tightly together, creating the full, bushy appearance that looks good on the shelf.

Once you bring it home, all those plants are competing for light, water and root space.

The fix is surprisingly simple. Tip the basil carefully out of its pot and look at the root ball. If it's packed with separate stems, gently divide the clump into a few smaller groups.

Pot those groups separately in fresh potting mix and give them a warm, bright spot. The RHS specifically notes that supermarket basil tends to be overcrowded, but can survive if divided and repotted promptly.

Bring basil inside when it gets cold

Basil likes warmth and sunshine and doesn't cope well with cold conditions. As temperatures drop in autumn, a bright, warm windowsill is a much safer place for it than a chilly balcony.

Keep harvesting the growing tips rather than picking individual leaves whenever you need a few.

So next time you reach for the basil, don't automatically grab the biggest leaf.

Find the pair of leaves below it, cut just above them, and leave the plant with two chances to grow where it previously had one.

That tiny change can help turn a tall, increasingly bare basil plant into one that keeps producing fresh leaves.