I planted multiple basil basilico finessimo verde a palla as border plants.  This variety has anise undertones, flavor- and scent-wise. Here it is in a short row …

… and again with zinnia, and lavender and zinnia.

Then there is classic-tasting basilico mostrusoso, which usually grows much larger – one year it reached 3 feet tall in a large pot and had leaves the size of my hands - but it is somewhat stunted here by an overbearing cherry tomato. The flavor of the leaves has not suffered though.

Greek basil, a small-leaf, globe-shaped plant, does well in pots. Here it's in an old stainless steel colander-lined pasta pot with the larger globe shaped basilico finessimo verde a palla. I threw in a little blue lobelia for color … thought planting basil in a pasta pot was rather appropriate.

I also have multiple plantings of basil italiano classico … some with potted heirloom tomatoes, some in perennial beds, and some in a long, narrow, and warm raised planting bed. This summer's hot, dry weather suited it regardless of where it's planted – all  plants are about two feet tall and filled with healthy, flavorful leaves.

I'd offer my official pesto recipe, but I've been making it for so many years now that I kind of wing it. In general I fill my blender with about two cups of fresh leaves, add a couple large garlic cloves, maybe a quarter cup of pecans or pine nuts, and just enough virgin olive oil to insure blending. As the blender works I add fresh squeezed lemon juice, maybe a couple or three tablespoons, to help hold basil's fresh green color. If I'm going to use the pesto without freezing I will also add about a quarter cup of grated parmesan. If I'm freezing the batch, I leave the parmesan out. I'm not crazy about the texture of pesto frozen with parmesan and prefer adding parmesan as I pour defrosted pesto over warm pasta. I freeze my blender concoction in pint-size canning jars, labeled of course. To use, just move a jar from the freezer to the frig, or defrost the jar in warm water. If I'm really careful, I can stretch out our pesto dinners from my frozen stash until about a month before I have enough growing to make pesto fresh.

For a great wrap, spread pesto on flat bread then add sliced tomato, cheese, and lettuce, or other goodies. Use pesto similarly on home-made quesadillas. I've even blended a couple of teaspoons of pesto into scrambled eggs for a yummy breakfast concoction … and pesto spread on pizza dough with mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves is really tasty.

An alternate method for preserving basil involves the blender, fresh leaves, and enough olive oil to allow blending. Add garlic to the mix if you want. Pour the basil/oil blend into plastic ice cube trays and freeze. Once solid, transfer cubes to plastic bags for use in winter sauces and soups.

I don't try to dry basil – don't like the icky brown color of dried basil leaves or their lack of full basil flavor.

I almost forgot lemon basil (at left), which only seems to grow well for me in pots. It doesn't like wet feet so be sure not to overwater. Use lemon basil in fresh veggie salads – any combination of fresh beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, or corn; in summer pasta dishes with fresh beans or tomatoes or eggplant or chicken; in cold summer tuna or egg salads; and in scrambled eggs. When I have ample amounts I'll make a fresh lemon basil pesto … fantastic!

I can't say any one of the basil's I plant is a favorite … I love them all. Though I also enjoy the color of purple basils, they tend to get leggy and don't give me the flavor punch their green cousins deliver to summer pastas, pizzas, breads, and salads.

Fortunately, the dreaded basil blight did not, as yet, hit my plants this year. I had some blight late last year but still harvested plenty of basil for pesto and other uses. If hit by basil blight, it's best to harvest the plant and pull off blighted leaves before processing. Catch it quickly, though, since blight can quickly destroy basil leaving you with none for winter use.

I don't try to grow fresh basil inside during colder months – just don't get enough sun – but by starting a bunch of inexpensive seeds in February and March I have more than enough basil variety for my family's use and to share as potted plants with neighbors and friends.

Do you have any basil growing tips to share? I know those with more winter sun exposure can grow basil inside from water-rooted cuttings set during late summer. What techniques do you use for basil growing/preserving?

Finally, I have to thank Amy at Backyard Bounty for sparking this basil post. She grows basil and multiple other crops and humans in Montana; pay her a visit.

Related posts:
Flowers surviving in dry, dry conditions
Color from the garden, but not enough
A hosta habitat, but so much more
A Connecticut garden in bloom
Fruits and Frustration

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, Herb Highlights, Techniques.
Tags: basil, gardening in Connecticut, pesto.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

I missed the NPR story on basil blight earlier in the week, but caught the link from the CT NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) Facebook fan page. Apparently the disease is a problem in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Florida. It acts and spreads much like late blight in tomatoes – via splashed soil and wind – so it is likely to impact gardeners in surrounding areas. It's also known as basil downy mildew.

The solution should you find your carefully tended basil leaves beginning to tinge yellow? Inspect the underside of the leaves for spores – they look like tiny grayish/brown specs between the veins (check out photo links below. If you find basil blight, freeze or make pesto with all the healthy leaves and destroy the remaining plant residue.  I'm only guessing you should isolate infected plants in a sealed plastic bag for trash disposal – this is what you should do with late blight infected tomatoes. I also guess you should not compost diseased plants.

Vegetable MD on basil blight – photos, more info on the pathogen, and a reporting link should your basil develop blight.

Photos of basil blight.

It just so happens that I went a little crazy planting basil this year – we LOVE pesto. I have five varieties potted in numerous containers and planted amongst perennials; large-leaved Basilico Mostruoso, Italiano Classico, Basilico Finissimo Verde a Palla, a globe-shaped bushy plant, and Greek Mini Yevani, a small leaved Ocimum-type, and lemon basil. I've also given a good number of small transplants away. The prospect that some … many … all … could be wiped out by blight, as could my tomatoes, makes me downright queasy. My mouth waters for fresh tomato and basil salads – the perfect flavors of summer.

I have no experience with basil blight. I'd love to hear from anyone who has dealt with basil blight –how fast did it come on and spread?

Related posts:
Late Blight – The Sequel
Gardening Oops – February 2010
Pre-frost action
Late blight marches on
Late Blight

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, Herb Highlights, Techniques.
Tags: basil, basil blight, CT NOFA, NPR, Vegetable MD.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

This month I present a cared for but not nourished basil plant I brought inside last fall before frost.  Yes, I watered it regularly, and gave it as much natural light as possible, but you can see it did some serious toward-the-sun leaning .  I shoulda picked more of its leaves.  I woulda enjoyed their  flavor in tomato sauce or on a home made pizza.  I coulda done this had I paid a little more attention.  But I didn't, and last week when I noticed tiny white specks on its leaves, I knew that aphids had hatched.  I shoulda and coulda given my tender herbal companion regular bi-weekly showers to stave off any budding aphid infestations.  Had I done this I might have been able to keep the aphids at bay.  But I didn't.  I have a pretty strict policy of banishing any small, replaceable plant from the house when aphids take hold.  I've tried fighting serious infestations in winter's past and it's not anything I choose to do again … I never seem to win the battle.  So when the aphids moved in, the basil moved out.  Here it is, on the front porch on a relatively warm January day – temperatures in the high 30's F.  The plant did remarkably well for the first few hours, then quickly drooped as night time fell.  By morning it was dead, aphids and all.

Caring for plants, just like caring for any other aspect of life, requires vigilance … sometimes more and sometimes less.  At times, growing plants also means making tough choices, like banishing one to never-never land.  Gardening, real gardening, means making mistakes.  Joining in on GOOPs day means admitting some of these mistakes.  Here you have yet another of mine, and the chance to share any mistake you've made in a comment below.  If you choose to share your GOOPs on your own blog, I'm thrilled.  Just leave a teaser in a comment below, along with your link, and anyone who reads here can pay you a visit too.

And if you really thrive on delve into past mistakes take a look at GOOPs – Gardening Oops for all the gritty details.  Here's hoping my GOOPs do not become yours.

Related posts:
Gardening Oops – GOOPS – September 2009
Gardening Oops – GOOPs - Day
New Year’s GOOPs – a gardener’s faux pas
Missed Opportunity – A Gardening Oops (Goops)
Pre-frost action

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, GOOPs-Gardening Oops.
Tags: aphids, basil, Gardening blunders, GOOPs Day.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

1. Most of the abundant crop of cucumbers have been used in salads, canned to dill pickles, or canned to relish.  I still hope to try brining a few into pickles - something I've not tried before – and if this doesn't work, I can still make more dills or relish.
2. Most of my meager crop of hot peppers have also been canned for winter use, though I still hope to can at least a couple more pints.
3. Just a few eggplant, plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and Pruden's purple tomatoes, and yellow and purple string beans remain on their plants.  I'll pick all before frost gets them.
4. A good amount of sage is cut, tied into bunches, and hanging to dry.  I'll use this in winter recipes, but hope to cut and dry more, perhaps for the kids to use.
5. Marjoram is drying in a borrowed dehydrator.
6. Basil is mostly picked (any remaining outside gets covered to protect from night temperatures below 50 degrees), and either dried,made into pesto, or frozen into a blended mash for use in soups.  Some plant will live on for a while in a small hot house, other plants have already been moved to an inside sunny window.
7. My rosemary plant is also inside after rejuvenating outdoors in the warm summer sun.  I'll use fresh cut rosemary in winter recipes.
8. Thyme has yet to be cut and dried.
9. Fall raspberries continue to produce.  Those not eaten get frozen on a cookie sheet then stored in an airtight baggie.
10. The 80 pounds of peaches we picked at a local orchard were peeled, sliced, covered with a mild sugar/water solution, and frozen in airtight bags.  Eating these in the dead of winter is like eating summer.
11. A similar amount of blueberries from a local farm have also been frozen for winter use.
12. I still need to pick apples from a local orchard.  They will become applesauce or apple butter.
13. Pumpkins, from a local farm, now sit outside as seasonal decoration, but will be cooked down, mashed, and frozen for later soups and pies.
14. There's still some hosta to move and new purchases to plant.
15. The Siberian iris are in desperate need of thinning.
16. Spring blooming bulbs need to be dug up, thinned out, and replanted.
17. Volunteer lamb's ear, foxglove, and sedum need to find better homes.
18. Finished compost must be screened and spread on lawn and planting areas.
19. Every last garlic chive blossom must be cut off and burned, otherwise I'll be overrun with unwanted volunteers in the spring.
20. And, finally, if I get the chance, I'd like to set up a small cold frame in an inconspicuous sunny spot so I can encourage some late planted lettuce and overwinter some cilantro seedlings.

So forgive me if blog posts come just every few days … at this time of year, end of season garden chores beckon … and I know I've forgotten something!

Related posts:
CT Grown Eats
Late blight hits CT tomatoes, potatoes
Late Blight
Magic milk update …
Magic Milk for Powdery Mildew

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, General, Seasons.
Tags: apples, basil, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, marjoram, peaches, peppers, pre-frost chores, pumpkins, raspberries, rosemary, thyme, tomatoes.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz