Basil, Basil, Everywhere!

I like to think of myself as a person who has an herb garden.  It just sounds sooo romantic.  I’ve heard it said having an herb garden is a luxury.

“Oh, yes, I use cilantro in my homemade pasta sauce, I flavor our tea with fresh mint, and I always roast the chicken with rosemary from the garden.”  HA!

Well, I don’t have an herb garden.  But what I do have is lots and lots of basil.  It has to be the easiest thing on the planet to grow.

Problem is, the only thing we use it for is caprese salads.  Now mind you, I love a good fresh caprese salad with buffalo mozarella, garden ripe tomatoes, the best aged balsamic and small batch Italian EVOO, and of course, basil, but there’s only so many caprese salads one can eat in the summer.  I have also been known to make pesto with all this basil using the mortar and pestle my husband bought for me at Williams-Sonoma.

I refuse to stop planting it each spring because it grows so well and it’s so fragrant on our balcony.  But, we really don’t need this much basil.  I’ve even tried to give it away to unsuspecting guests.

Oh, well, it’s my stake in the herb world!  At the Farmer’s Market, the flower vendors almost always put basil in with their fresh arrangements.  It makes them smell divine!  I guess I’ll have to resort to this.

Speaking of herbs, this has to be one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen.  Using a shoe organizer to grow an herb garden.

(via: green upgrader)

Happy Seasoning,

Kim

P.S.  I have grown several other herbs before, like the afore mentioned cilantro, mint, rosemary, and also thyme, parsley, oregano, and catnip.  I’m just not a gourmet cook enough to actually use it regularly!  Hats off to those of you who do!