Basil Season in the Garden

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This is the year for basil in our garden. Each year it's something else. The eggplant year, the cucumber variety year - well, it's enough to say that every year we have a big mess of something to deal with. We donate any vegetables that become too abundant for us to use.

Back to Basil - I planted 3 seed varieties with the goal of having enough to make plenty of pesto plus a winter's worth to dry in the dehydrator.

We have enough to do it all.
Here's the post about the Basil varieties I planted this year.
http://allthedirtongardening.blogspot.com/2015/05/globe-basil-is-ocimum-basilicum.html

There are four rows of plants in three locations around the place. So far, we've made one batch of pesto and filled the dehydrator once.

Then, I watered and lightly fertilized the bottom halves of the plants with seaweed/fish fertilizer and continued to water the plants regularly. Now, as you can see, it's time to harvest again.

This winter we will have enough of our own flavorful, dried, basil and we won't have to purchase any in the store.

I won't bother you with re-posting my pesto-making method but if you have any interest in seeing how we do it, below is the link to an earlier blog post with plenty of photos of the process. This year I cut down on the Parmesan and we actually liked the flavor better with less cheese. Garlic, salt, cheese: It's all so personal. And, yes, I always use walnuts instead of pine nuts.
http://allthedirtongardening.blogspot.com/2012/07/basil-pesto-we-canned-one-year-supply.html



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