I have been so busy this week, that I haven't had the chance to get out into my gardens. From the kitchen I could see that there were cherry tomatoes ripening, and we're having salad for dinner tonight, so I made the trek out to harvest a few of them.
Some rotten little rodent, or bunny or deer is taking one bite out of the bigger tomatoes. I doubt seriously that we will have more than the three we have managed to collect so far because they are just too tempting. Maybe I can find a strip of hardware cloth to wrap around the tomato cage. That might protect them from the livestock.
As I walked back through the herb garden, I brushed the basil, and its scent filled the air. I stopped to pinch off the tops of the plants, to try to keep them bushy, and to delay the flowering. Basil tastes better before it's energy goes into flowering and making seeds.
We've had light showers the past two days. The water has helped everything, but we need still more. We seem to be in a pocket of drought that has hung over us for at least three years. I know that friends in the East and in Kansas are worried about flooding, and can't wait for things to dry up. Send that water this way!
If it's not raining early tomorrow morning, I may have the chance to get into the gardens again. We can hope. The worst of the week will be over tomorrow morning, and working in the gardens would be a lovely way to wind down the week.
Soon it will be time to make "Farmer's Tomato Pie." I'm just waiting for the home grown, or local tomatoes to ripen. Yummmmmm!
Comments (4)
now that sounds delicious. can i persuade you to share the recipie?
Posted by bod | July 18, 2007 4:53 PM
Posted on July 18, 2007 16:53
I would SO love to have that recipe also.
Posted by Charmed | July 20, 2007 1:01 PM
Posted on July 20, 2007 13:01
Opps, now you tell me. One of my basil plants has flowered.
Posted by janet | July 20, 2007 2:19 PM
Posted on July 20, 2007 14:19
Bod and Charmed, I've posted the recipe for you. I hope you enjoy it.
Janet, pinch off, or cut back the flowerette. Keep pinching, and use any leaves you pluck off. Your basil should become bushy, and you should still be able to use the leaves. Even if you let the plants go into major bloom, you could still use the leaves, but there's more essential oil in the leaves before bloom.
I pinched back all the plants trying to go to bloom, and used the leaves to make pesto last week. *S*
Posted by buffy | July 20, 2007 4:46 PM
Posted on July 20, 2007 16:46