Tag Archives: basil

Potatoes, squash, beans, chard, basil, onions, & Temperature Blanket Update

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We got a pretty mess of vegetables out of the garden the other day. We were happy we could harvest a few squash.
We had several potatoes; we used some and stored some for later.We have a rule at our house that the first mess of squash has to be fried. It used to be fried in oil in a skillet method. A few years ago, we needed to change our way of cooking to be healthier, so we make a stir-fry instead. Our stir fry is a bit of olive oil, squash, potatoes, basil, onions, and a bit of cornmeal just for nostalgia. 😉

Thankfully, our area is finally getting some rain. My husband thought it a good idea to go ahead and harvest all the potatoes so they wouldn’t ruin. I agreed with him since the potato plants were starting to die and since we got such a nice harvest a few days before.
Considering that we didn’t plant but 5 lbs. of potatoes, I think we got a good harvest.
I’m guessing there’s probably a couple pecks (half bushel)
We’re happy with them.

Temperature Blankets Update:

I decided to skip May temperature blankets update and wait until June to do my update so they’d be a bit bigger than every couple weeks.
They’re still coming along fairly well.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

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2018 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Growth – Herbs

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2018 WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
~Growth~
“Evoke the excitement of entering a new year
with a photo that shows growth.”
~*~

Right now it’s so cold in our region that the only thing that’s showing any growth around my home is one of my basil plants. I transplanted them from my herb bed last fall to a container to set on the window sill. I’m surprised one of them is doing so well. I haven’t had the heart to use it yet, but it’s just now finally tall enough to use. I’m going to start using a few of it’s leaves for seasoning food sometime soon.

Below is a photo I used in the WordPress Weekly Challenge last August for Textures.
The healthy growth of my herb bed evokes the excitement of the promise of a new gardening season in this new year .

 Wishing you all fun with another year
of the WordPress Weekly photo challenge!

 

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My Basil was being bugged

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As it turns out, my mesh cover keeps out most of the insects, however there is one kind of insect that evidently was able to get through… the fruit fly or what we call a fruit fly.
I didn’t know that they were in the basil. Each evening when I’d bring the basil inside and set it on the window sill, unbeknownst to us, fruit flies would get out and fly around the house. We’d chase them down and kill them and wonder where they heck they came from. It wasn’t until I saw one inside the mesh of the basil container that I figured out where the little buggers was coming from and it all made sense. I figure they must’ve got on the soil and laid eggs. Yuck!
Since I didn’t want to toss my basil, I decided to use a little natural control on them.
I got out my bag of ‘Diamaceous Earth – Food Grade’ also called ‘DE’ and covered the soil heavily. As long as it stays dry, it’s effective against insects.
I’ve always watered the basil from the bottom tray. It helps keep the roots deeper in the soil. So, I’m good there.So far so good on keeping the fruit flies controlled.

‘Diamaceous Earth – Food Grade’ is a natural pest control. The way DE works is it scratches the spiders/insects/bugs exoskeleton and causes them to dehydrate and die.

If you plan to try ‘Diamaceous Earth’, make sure you use ‘Food Grade’.  And also, do the research and read all you can about it. There’s safety measures that need to be followed if it’s used on a larger scale than I have used it here in my basil container.

I hope you all have a pest-free rest of the week!

 

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Impatiens, Basil, Marigolds and a Dandelion

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The cool nights are starting to cause my impatiens leaves to turn yellow. Just a note here, if you ever wonder what variety of flowers do well growing in the shade or in a pot in the shade, impatiens are the way to go. I discovered their shade loving this year. I originally planted these two plants in the flower bed, but they about melted away in the sunshine. I hadn’t realized that the sunshine would do that much harm to them. I transplanted them in to pots and set them on our table on the back porch. They have grown and flourished. I plan to buy a few of them next year. We enjoy having flowers blooming on the porch and these impatiens have lasted the entire season.~*~
My basil is looking well. I transplanted it to a larger pot.
I set it outside when the weather allows and bring it in at night.
I’m happy with it’s progress so far.~*~
Earlier this Summer I tossed some of the dead-marigold-blooms in the end of one of our small flowerbeds. I thought nothing of it until some little plants started growing. Wow, they look better and are thriving better than the original ones we bought from the nursery. I think that’s pretty neat.~*~
I thought of the first ‘Ice Age’ movie when I
saw this lovely dandelion bloom.
I smiled, took a photo and wondered if
“it is the last dandelion of the season.”
~*~
If it’s Autumn in your region,
are the flowers still blooming
or has it been too cold?

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Rose cutting update & Basil Babies

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My accidental rose cutting is thriving in the herb bed. I planted it close to the birdbath in hopes of giving it a bit of protection through the winter. I plan to transplant it next Spring to a more open spot. ~*~

I noticed some baby basil plants growing on the ground by the adult ones. I decided to try and get a couple to grow indoors for the winter. I have my doubts as to how long I can get them to survive in the house, but it’s worth a try. I found two nice size basil seedlings snuggled down between the rocks and stems of the adult plants. They’ve been quite well protected. I transplanted them in a small pot.I put netting over the pot to keep the bugs out. Our nights are quite cool now and since the babies don’t have the same protection around them, I bring them in at night and set them outside during the day.Hopefully they’ll continue to thrive and I’ll have fresh basil for a while.

~*~

My herb bed is full with the matured plants. It’s quite crowded and messy.
I’ve enjoyed my herb bed. I’m sad to know that soon it’ll go to sleep for winter.

~*~

My plans for next season are already in the making.
Just 5 to 6 months and
I’ll be back out there starting the gardening season again.

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Wildlife Wednesday – Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

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I saw this beauty feeding on my basil.It’s so fast that I got only a few photos and one super short video.

Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth
taking off after feeding on my basil.


Wishing you all a beautiful Wednesday!

Related Post:
Snowberry Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth

~*~

edited 8-3-2017
I fixed the word ‘Snowberry’.
I misspelled it on the video, the photos & this post.
I apologize for my mistake & any confusion I may have caused.
 

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1st harvest 2017 & potato bucket update

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I’m happy to finally have our first harvest. I pulled some green onions and cut some chard. It was fun and I wish I had more veggies ready to harvest.

I cut some sweet basil. I forgot to get a photo of the cut basil, but here’s one of it still on the plant.

I put the chard in the refrigerator for future use. I used the onions and fresh cut sweet basil in Bruschetta. Then I made some Bruschetta toasties for supper. The toasties was really good and a nice something different. I had quite a bit of Bruschetta leftover for later.

One of the potato plants has broken the soil. It looks like a wee green rose nestled down in the potato bucket. I had trouble getting a good photo, but I wanted to post it anyway. Perhaps this wee green rose is the start of a bucket full of potatoes. I hope I hope.It looks as if our little garden is off to a good start. Hopefully we’ll get more harvest and maybe even have some produce to store for winter.

Happy gardening!

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Time to bring the herbs in

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Our area finally got a break on the hot weather. It’s been quite cool here during the night and really nice during the day. I decided it was time to bring my herbs in the house.
20160929_060609I put the netting back on my rosemary a couple weeks ago. I’ve kept it trimmed and it’s grown thick and pretty. So far there hasn’t been any critters appear on it. I’m going to keep the netting on it for a quite a while just to be sure.

p1070459Since my basil is in 5 gallon buckets and way too large to bring in the house, A month ago, I started a few basil plant from cuttings. I want to try and grow basil indoors during the winter. The basil rooted really easily in about a week. When I transplanted them, I made nettings for their pots and kept them covered.
They look pretty neat in my kitchen window. My husband made me a wider window shelf just so I could set the herbs there. He’s a such a good fellow about helping me with stuff like that.

I hope my herbs live and grow here in the house. I plan to take them outside when the temps are warm enough and then bring them in at night.

I’ve been sidetracked this week, I’ll be around catching up on my blog visiting.

I hope you all are enjoying pleasant temps and having a pleasant week.

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Easy Basil & Tomato Cream Cheese Spread

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P1040896I had a couple packs of herbed cheeses. We really enjoyed the tomato and basil cheese. We haven’t tried the other yet. I liked the tomato and basil cheese so much that I decided to make some.

I went in search of a recipe. The recipes were either too overdone with oodles of ingredients or made too large amounts for my small family. As usual I ended up making up my own recipe. The recipes gave me a good idea what ingredients to use. I decided on using just 3 ingredients.

My husband really enjoyed my homemade spread. It’s so easy to make. I plan to use this simple recipe as a spring board and add some other ingredients with it to make some other spreads and dips.

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Basil & Tomato Cream Cheese Spread

8 oz. softened cream cheese
2/3 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (or 2 tbsp dried basil)
1/4 tsp Mrs. Dash garlic & herb seasoning

In a medium size bowl, use a fork to thoroughly mix all 4 ingredients together.
Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight so the cream cheese can soak up the flavors.

Serve with crackers or chips
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Happy Snacking!

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