Grow Sweet Basil in Your Herb Garden
Growing herbs, to have fresh flavors when cooking,
is easy and Sweet basil is an excellent complement
to many dishes.
Here are how to grow tips for your herb garden along
with some quick and easy recipes using basil in
everyday cooking.
Table of Contents
BASIL GROWING AND HARVESTING TIPS
GROWING BASIL
When the plants are 12" to 18" high, they should be harvested regularly to keep new growth coming on. The leaves can be used when picked, or they can be frozen or dried
DRYING AND PRESERVING
Harvesting
Harvest before flowering. If you've been harvesting all season, your plants probably haven't had a chance to flower. But non-hardy herbs will start to decline as the weather cools, so late summer is a good time to begin drying your herbs.
Cut in mid-morning. Let the morning dew dry from the leaves, but pick before the plants are wilting in the afternoon sun.
How To Dry Herbs
Cut healthy branches from your herb plants.
Remove any dry or diseased leaves
Shake gently to remove any insects.
If necessary, rinse with cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Wet herbs will mold and rot.
Remove the lower leaves along the bottom inch or so of the branch.
Bundle 4 - 6 branches together and tie as a bunch. You can use string or a rubber band. The bundles will shrink as they dry and the rubber band will loosen, so check periodically that the bundle is not slipping. Make small bundles if you are trying to dry herbs with high water content.
Punch or cut several holes in a paper bag. Label the bag with the name of the herb you are drying.
Place the herb bundle upside down into the bag.
Gather the ends of the bag around the bundle and tie closed. Make sure the herbs are not crowded inside the bag.
Hang the bag upside down in a warm, airy room.
Check in about two weeks to see how things are progressing. Keep checking weekly until your herbs are dry and ready to store.
Marie Iannotti
About.com
HERB GARDEN PRODUCTS
TO START GROWING YOUR OWN HERBS
BASIL RECIPES
QUICK AND EASY BASIL RECIPES
- Quick and Easy Basil Recipes
- Quick and Easy Basil Recipes at AllRecipes.com
- Better Homes and Gardens
- 51 Basil Recipes at Better Homes and Gardens.com
- Fragrant Red Curry with Fresh Summer Vegetables & Sweet Basil
- Fragrant Red Curry with Fresh Summer Vegetables & Sweet Basil
MORE BASIL RECIPES
BASIL CHICKEN RICE RECIPE
THAI FOOD basil chicken fried rice
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com for more Thai cooking video recipes. In this episode Dim and Cathy Geefay cook Thai basil chicken fried rice . Thai recipes, Thai ingredients, Thai cooking instructions included
Runtime: 470
316901 views
305 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
More Basil Information - Basil Websites
- Basil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Basil From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Basil (Ocimum basilicum) | Plants
- This Herb Guide features information on growing and using basil.
- WHFoods: Basil
- Non-profit foundation providing reliable, scientifically accurate, personalized information for convenient and enjoyable healthy eating.
- Growing, Selecting And Using Basil, HYG-1644-94
- Basil is an annual herb belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae (Labiatae) and like others in this family, basil can be identified by its square, . . .
- botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Basil, Sweet
- Providing botanical, folk-lore and herbal information, plus organic herbs, and herbal products.
- Basil
- North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Basil is a popular herb known for its fla. . .
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Chives - Growing Tips and Recipes
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Growing chives in the herb garden and in indoor pots is easy to do and they provide an onion flavor to many dishes. Growing herbs, such as chives, is easy to do. Chives plants can be decorative in the yard as borders along walks and walls with their...
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Leave a message, if you'd like
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- rosegeranium rosegeranium Nov 10, 2009 @ 11:39 am
- Yum, basil is my favorite. Thanks for the lens
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Reply
- Artemus-Gordon Artemus-Gordon Sep 9, 2009 @ 2:02 pm
- I love basil and have grown it for years. This year I tried an Opal basil as well as a Thai basil and they are delicious. The Thai basil has an almost licorce scent to it much like tarragon.
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Reply
- Swisstoons Swisstoons Apr 19, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
- I love basil. In addition to being delicious, it is said to enhance the....uh.....whaddya call it....the uhhhhh.....uhhhhhhh.....MEMORY! Rolling this lens to my Laftovers lens where it will find a magnet featuring....uhhh....BASIL. (Also, giving stars and favoriting.
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- poutine poutine Feb 24, 2009 @ 10:33 am
- I love touching basil leaves and smell them. It has the most wonderful scent.
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- Pantherart Pantherart Sep 22, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
- Nice lens I lens rolled this to all my herb lens http://www.squidoo.com/basic-herb-garden gave you 5 stars
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Reply
- Coe Coe Sep 2, 2008 @ 9:39 am
- I had sweet basil growing in a shallow pot on my deck this summer. It was great to be able to pick a few leaves and throw them in soups and stews! When sweet basil flowers, it does need to be pinched back 5 or 6 leaf nodes down from the flower bud.
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