Beautiful Basil

They say you should try something new every day, and I'm using that idea in my garden. This year I tried lots of new things for me, pole beans (which were decimated by deer and bunnies), potatoes (which I grew in soil that was too dense I think, so they were really hard to dig out, but quite yummy!), rutabaga and turnips - which are still in the ground because I panicked trying to come up with uses for them, and some new herbs. I tried four new herbs this year, Parsley, Cilantro, Oregano and Basil (I've never actually grown herbs before!). The parsley and cilantro were planted in with the beans and potatoes are were really hard to reach...so that was a bit of a failure. The Oregano dried up and died...so another failure there. The Basil which I wasn't expecting much of because the package told me that I should have started my seeds inside, and silly me I sowed the seeds outdoors, is the herb that surprised me the most. I don't use much Basil in the kitchen, so I kind of left it go until Matt's mom came to visit in July. We cut the leaves and I dried them in my dehydrator, then realized that Basil is my new favorite herb! The most surprising thing is what happened after I trimmed the Basil, it grew back, bushier! It's tail end of the season and I have enough Basil to dry again!!

Moral of the story is, I will be growing more Basil next year, and if you haven't tried it...you should do so! My pizzas have never tasted better :)