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When we wrote about the Gardenist project last week, we intimated that our basil "threatened to overrun all the other plants." It wasn't until we were in the midst of pruning the tomato plants yesterday that we realized just how much of an understatement that actually was.
Aside from our normal weeding and the occasional picking of cilantro, we've left most of the herbs alone. But we've got chicken breasts thawing out in the fridge, and we thought that what they really could use is a lemon basil marinade, served with grilled vegetables. Once we were done with the tomato plants we got down to the business of clipping the basil down to size.
As you can see from the picture, we brought in a sizable yield of the good stuff. Separating the leaves from the stems filled our kitchen with a sweet aroma that's still lingering and conjured dormant memories of our misspent youth. As much basil as we clipped from the garden, the plants are still huge. However, now that we've trimmed it somewhat, the rosemary, cilantro and dill weed we planted behind the basil have more sunlight in which to bathe. We've already used the cilantro for guacamole and a mango salsa, but the rosemary is what we're really looking forward to using. We have something special planned for that herb in a couple weeks with some cedar plank salmon. We'll be serving that up with homemade dill aioli.
As always, you can check out both our personal and the Chicagoist Photos Flickr streams for new photos from our garden project.
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I think what you have there is considered Genovese basil. I grew this one year and had a great crop. The stem got nice and woody so I knew it was taking in the right amount of water and sun. With the basil I didn't use I dried. Sadly, it's not a perennial. But it was the most contained and proud herb of the garden.
The herb to really watch out for is dill. It's about as hard to rid your garden of it as it is to do with raspberries.
i think there would be nothing better than to have a a raspberry infestation in my front courtyard.
#1: Thanks for the heads-up on the dill and basil. The person who preceded me in my apartment planted sage in the same spot as my basil three years ago, and it took over the entire planters box by the time he left. I mean, it grew everywhere. The landlord rooted it all out last year, not knowing what it was.
If you want a really easy planting, take a couple garlic cloves and plant them a week or two before Halloween. By mid-august of next summer, you'll have store-bought sized heads of garlic. A sign they are ready is that the leaves and stem die above ground. When they are yellow, it's harvest time. Don't cut the leaves off. Hang in a basement, garage, or pantry for a few weeks.
I don't know if it works, but in Return to the Planet of the Apes, when they were hiding on the farm, he tells the ape kid that when planting corn, always use the larger kernels, as they will grow bigger and bigger ears. I think the same about cloves of garlic.
to have some for next year, you can either
1harvest the seeds or
2 keep it going indoors throughout the winter by cutting off the top and sticking it in water- they root Very easily.
side note- never walk around chicago with rooted basil unless you're willing to give some away! :D