Edible Spotlight: Dolce Fresca Basil

Meet your new favorite basil: compact, wonderfully fragrant, and packed with flavor. 'Dolce Fresca' stays under 2 feet tall, which makes it a natural for containers, windowsills, and small-space gardens alike. And it took home the 2015 All-America Selections award, so you know the experts vouch for it too.

Features: Large, flat leaves that are a cook's dream. Compact size that fits anywhere. Late flowering, which means less time pinching off flower buds. Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last expected frost, and transplant once the seedlings have two sets of true leaves. Or direct sow in the garden after the soil has warmed and frost is no longer a threat. Germination: 5–10 days. Spacing: 12–15 inches apart.

Pinching: At 6 weeks, give the central stem a pinch. After that, whenever a stem has more than 8 leaves, pinch it back. It feels counterintuitive to cut something you're trying to grow, but trust me—pinching makes for a bushier, fuller plant that keeps giving you fresh leaves all season long.

Photo courtesy of PanAmerican Seed