Two years ago I remember stumbling across some fresh herbs in Tesco. After taking a second glance I realized they were sold individually in potted plants. You had thyme, rosemary, and basil, not many choices then but many enough to get heads turning. Upon showing my mum the basil plant, she looked at me in a confused manner, trying to apprehend what foreign plant I just told her about.
I’ve never actually cooked with fresh herbs before. Usually I just make do with the dry herbs we find in the supermarkets. However last weekend I wanted to try this spinach fritata using using a generous amount of fresh basil. Not having it in stock, I made it into the shopping list. Later that week, my mum came home instead with a potted plant in a transparent plastic bag. Indeed, sweet basil it was, she actually did remember.
It’s been slightly over a week since the plants have grown. A few things about sweet basil:
- they need lots of sunlight ( According to mum, just like flowering plants. However orchids grow at its best with semi sunlight)
- soil needs to be moist at all times
- prune the plant if it starts flowering so that basil does not loose its flavor
- pinch leaves from the top if plant is too tall ( This promotes healthy horizontal growth. The idea is to have large leaves)
- cures scorpion and bee stings!
Though I may not have green fingers myself, but I’d like grow my own vegetables in the near future. A small garden filled with herbs I could whip something out of it any time of the day. I mean, you couldn’t get more organic than that. Right now I smell pesto.
