seed saving question- basil

[mopinko]

i am assuming that all those wonderful varieties of basil out there can easily cross pollinate, right?

have several nice one, but wondering about saving seeds.
assuming they will cross, how apart do they have to be to come true?

do you think a variety like siam beauty, which has a very different flower, would cross like the rest?

my seed bill killed me this year. imma try harder this year.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Basil does cross

If you find those you like, drape the plant top flower stem with a very light fabric to keep the bees out...remove when the flowers open, then dry. Any seeds on that inflorescence will be pure

[mopinko]

2. do they make little socks for that?

i have seen plastic bags over flower bunches, so was figuring there might be something like that out there. light cloth it is.

i want to keep both my fave cukes, but i can space them pretty far apart w/o a lot of trouble.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. You can make them from Reemay (floating row cover). Plastic

no good would cook the flower.. need air

For cukes, you can pollinate them and mark the fruit as pure if the pollination succeeds. Many cukes are hybrids, so I hope your favorites are open pollinated.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Why not keep cuttings throughout the year?

You can cut from the basil you like and grow a new plant. Keep them indoors over the winter and plant them again in the spring.