How to grow Spicy Globe Basil in indoor gardening — A Compact Herb That Tries to Grow Like a Ball

🌿 Spicy Globe Basil in Korea — A Compact Herb That Tries to Grow Like a Ball

This is part of my ongoing series documenting 23 types of basil I’ve grown.

I’ve already written about Lettuce Leaf Basil, Opal Basil, and Sweet Basil,
but now that those plants have completed their life cycles, I’m moving on—starting again with Thai Basil, and continuing one by one.

Eventually, you’ll be able to meet over 20 unique basil varieties here.

In Korea, we have four distinct seasons, and winters in colder regions can drop below –20°C (–4°F).
Because of that, basil is grown as an annual.

Of course, I grow mine indoors year-round with grow lights,
but every spring still begins with fresh sprouts.

🌱 Spicy Globe Basil — The Round One

This variety is commonly available in Korea.
It’s called Spicy Globe Basil, or sometimes just Ball Basil,
because it tends to grow into a round, compact shape.

After sowing the seeds, sprouts emerged in just 3 days.

Unlike other basil types, the leaves are flatter and more spread out.

Soon, the true leaves started growing.

They grew noticeably taller after a few more days.

To help it grow even better, I repotted it and moved it to my plant shelf.

The leaves started filling in quickly and densely.

Compared to sweet basil, these leaves aren’t as round.

The tiny leaves grow so tightly, there's barely any space between them

One day, I even noticed a flower spike starting to rise.

I was hoping it would form into a tidy, round ball...
but it ended up looking a bit wild and overgrown.

At one point, I thought a bug was crawling on the stem,
but it turned out to be an aerial root that hadn’t grown properly.
Honestly, it looked a bit creepy.