I will have way more basil than any sane person knows what to do with. I end up making a lot of basil pesto and eating basil, bacon and tomato sandwiches. (Basil + tomato is one of those awesome natural combinations where each enhances the other). Basil does not keep in the refrigerator--it oxidizes like fresh tea after a day, but you can freeze it. I made pesto with frozen basil several times this winter.
Hmm, I wonder if you could do to basil what you do for tea--halt the oxidation with heat? They do dry basil, obviously...
I have no idea what I'll use cinnamon basil for. It's one of those uncommon cultivars and I've never tried it before. Thai basil is used in a several oriental recipes. If I can get drying figured out, I can at least send samples around.
Sweet basil is easy to grow in warm weather. It sprouts easily, loves heat, and will grow in a large pot, though you have to keep it well watered. It's an annual, and pretty much starts dying after it goes to seed, though I hear you can nurse it through the winter sometimes. I just harvested all mine once they went to seed. You can delay them going to seed by pinching off the blooms, of course.
For sweet basil, I like the commercial seed just fine. The Thai basil was a plant I bought at the garden shop last year; I collected the seed from last year's plant and started a new batch this year. I will probably due the same for the cinnamon basil, since it was something I got from the Seed Exchange (heirloom breeds), and not easily available at Walmart's garden shop.
Mint is an aggressively spreading perennial. Once you get it started growing, it will take over your yard if you let it. Lemon balm is new this year; I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet. It smells nice, though.
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Hmm, I wonder if you could do to basil what you do for tea--halt the oxidation with heat? They do dry basil, obviously...
I have no idea what I'll use cinnamon basil for. It's one of those uncommon cultivars and I've never tried it before. Thai basil is used in a several oriental recipes. If I can get drying figured out, I can at least send samples around.
Sweet basil is easy to grow in warm weather. It sprouts easily, loves heat, and will grow in a large pot, though you have to keep it well watered. It's an annual, and pretty much starts dying after it goes to seed, though I hear you can nurse it through the winter sometimes. I just harvested all mine once they went to seed. You can delay them going to seed by pinching off the blooms, of course.
For sweet basil, I like the commercial seed just fine. The Thai basil was a plant I bought at the garden shop last year; I collected the seed from last year's plant and started a new batch this year. I will probably due the same for the cinnamon basil, since it was something I got from the Seed Exchange (heirloom breeds), and not easily available at Walmart's garden shop.
Mint is an aggressively spreading perennial. Once you get it started growing, it will take over your yard if you let it. Lemon balm is new this year; I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet. It smells nice, though.