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The Garden

Lauren

I still have no tomatoes though two of the (twenty, no kidding) plants stand over six feet tall. I have a feeling that all of them will come in at once and I will be forced to learn how to can sauces and stews.

I cut down all of the beautiful broccoli, and blanched and froze it yesterday. Whether I will get additional offshoots is to be seen. None are currently growing.

Squash is coming in at an amazing rate, forcing me to make tons of casseroles and lasagnas to be eaten and frozen. Making squash casseroles with Great Harvest tomato-basil bread is fun and tasty. The roommate and I managed to eat a 9×13″ pan of casserole in a matter of two days.

I cut down all of the basil and began to make and freeze pestos. Unfortunately I waited too long and much of the basil is too bitter. I got more ingredients today and plan to doctor the hell out of it, while still maintaining the simplicity, and hope to concoct a better pesto. Ethan loves the stuff and we eat it all year long.

The green beans didn’t quite make it, the okra hasn’t put out a single pod, the cauliflower and cabbage are growing but look sad. The carrots are growing steadily but slowly. The peppers, though. Oh, the peppers.

After all the hard work and time I’ve put into the garden, I am thrilled with the output and experience. Next year I need more varieties of veggies, far fewer tomato plants, and a better garden layout. I may do a squared garden with more greens next year instead of rows. Maybe I’ll employ the completely organic Ruth Stout method. In addition, after finally figuring out how the compost bins are supposed to work, I’ll do a better job at utilizing the compost pile.

In the meantime, does anyone know how to save my pesto while using the bitter basil?

7 thoughts on The Garden

  1. Lauren–

    Are your tomato plants flowering yet? David and I had tomatoes until the first frost last year… I think you’ve still got plenty of time. If they’re flowering (or about to), you’re golden. 🙂

  3. I would recommend cutting off any arms of the tomato plant that aren’t loaded with flowers. It could be that your plant is in grow-grow mode and not reproduce mode and keeping it from growing could encourage it to fruit. This has helped the past two years for me.

    I’m amazed that you’re located just a few hours south of me. Thanks to a rain (finally) we now have two banana peppers growing, flowers on our cucumber plant, and our two tomatoes are slowly getting bigger.

    To save your pesto, throw in about 1 part parsley to 4 parts basil. Parsley is sweeter and could help temper the bitterness. Or you could add arugula or some other hardy small leaf lettuce/greens. It will accentuate the bitter but maybe make it more palatable. I’ve made pesto with arugula instead of basil and liked it. Otherwise, try adding more cheese or you can see if adding some sugar will counter-act the bitterness.

    Another tip for herbs, anytime you see them start to flower, pick off the buds before they flower to prevent the plants from becoming bitter. Unless you plant cilantro and then you should let some of it flower so you can get fresh coriander seeds which are so, SO, so much better than anything you get ground up in a glass jar. But around here, basil can get 4-5 feet tall and bushy and if we keep picking off the oldest of the leaves and using it throughout the season, I then get a huge-ol crop of basil for pesto-making in August/September. You may have enough time to plant more and let it grow through the rest of the season.

  4. Does your pesto recipe call for blanching the basil leaves? I wonder whether that might take out some of the bitterness, as well as helping preserve the color.

  5. I dunno about the the bitter basil (mmmmm, pesto) but I heartily reccomend the Ruth Stout method! Also, reading her books (or essays) is an awesome way to start your gardening year. She kicks ass.

  6. You pick off buds on basil, by the way, by reaching underneath anything that looks like a flower and pinching it off at the node where the leaves branch out with your fingers. My basil lasts forever this way.

  7. Oh, Amanda, I know. I left for Memphis just as soon as the basil was maturing. I should have gotten it before then but didn’t have the time.

    I got more basil and hope to make a hybrid bitter/regular pesto.

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