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In all of these years of gardening organically, I have never been successful growing herbs indoors. I remember my Mum and my siblings bringing in their rosemary plants each winter up in Ontario. They placed it in a very sunny window and most winters it would survive well enough to be planted again outside in the spring. I always marveled at their green thumbs, because it is not easy to grow rosemary inside.
My experiment this winter with basil goes to show that everyone can learn something new at any time. Last October I took a 4″ Genovese basil plant and potted it in some Redenta’s Potting Mix, in an old terra cotta pot. Every other week or so, I watered it with a liquid seaweed solution – the only special care other than regular watering. Inside it is in a very sunny spot. Every day that the temperature goes above 50 degrees, I place it outside in the sun. It has truly thrived. There may not be enough for a batch of pesto yet, but there has certainly been enough to put in salads, soups, pastas and even a small batch of basil oil. This has been fun!
Responses to “Basil year-round”
May 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Basil is so easy to grow outdoors in Texas in warm weather, everyone should have some. We grow several kinds in pots along our main garden path, so we can brush against them as we visit the garden. African blue seems to do best for us, and is quite decorative in bloom. But all basil varieties are good. Try the fresh-picked leaves in a pasta salad for summer lunches or church potlucks.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
My friend, Doug Mocek, is a 5th grade teacher at Westcliff Elementary School. Last year he set up an equivalency acivity in math with a recipe for pesto. The students worked in collaborative groups to convert the amounts of ingredients stipulated in the recipe into equivalent fractions, decimals, metric, and customary units and fill in a chart. Once all of their conversions were correct and Doug had signed off on them, the groups put the ingredients, including basil and garlic from our school garden, into a food processor. Doug had precooked the pasta, and most of the kids had pasta and pesto for the first time. Not all of them liked it, but they ate it anyway…why? I’m guessing because they were having so much fun, and they grew the ingredients themselves!