Growing basil on the deck

For many years, I tried growing basil in the garden. Our soil seemed to be too cool in the early summer months for the plants to really take hold and flourish. Then a friend mentioned that she had read basil often does better in pots in a sunny location, if kept well-watered.

So, for the past 4 or 5 years, I've been growing my basil in a large trough-style planter on our deck. And it grows so much better for me now.

Some of the things that I believe is helping my basil perform:

• I begin with seeds, sown in flats, indoors, in late March/early April. Basil is a slow grower in the early part of the season, here, and needs plenty of time to gain size, before planting out to the trough.
• My trough planter is about 18 inches deep, allowing for plenty of soil to hold hold water for these tender plants.
• The trough is situated in what I believe is the best place on our deck. It's NOT up against the house, where it would bake all day long, but up against a side railing to the deck. The railing itself gives some stippled sun/shade in the early part of the day, and full sun from noon until 4-5 PM or so. But being a "porous" edging to the deck, there's lots of air circulation around the plants.
• I planted out the basil seedlings in phases, as a just in case measure -- just in case there were lurking slugs in the trough (which I could bait for early on), just in case we had a late frost, just in case the soil was still too cool. I planted out the seedlings over the course of about 3 weeks, when the daytime temps were consistently mid-60s or higher during the day (May).
• I planted the seedlings, thickly, about 3-4 inches apart in all directions. This is closer than many experts suggest, but it works for me.
• During the dry part of the season, I shower the trough with water at least once per day, on very hot days, twice.
• And this step is important for a full, lush bed basil -- when the plants have about 3-4 sets of leaf pairs, I pinch off the top growth for kitchen use. Pinching off new growth encourage bushiness in the plants. I have enough plants in my trough this year that I can pinch plants every 3 days, enough for a constant supply of homemade pesto.
• Before planting out my seedlings, I mixed some new soil into the planter. This new soil had some fertilizers added, which gave the basil a good start.
• Basil is a heavy-feeder, and does well with a liquid feed. I prefer using compost tea, sprayed over the top of the plants, every couple of weeks, from early July on.

I hope to be able to cut and freeze a significant amount of basil later this summer, to use in winter. Frozen basil retains more flavor and nutrients than dried basil. And I think it's just plain easier to freeze it.



Growing basil from seeds costs about a dollar or two, for seeds and potting soil. A small basil seedling at the nursery will cost about $2. Buying basil as a good-sized potted plant will cost about $5-7 or so. Buying basil as a fresh herb in the produce department of your supermarket will cost $2 or $3, for basil that will keep in your fridge for about a week.

There isn't one right way to have fresh basil for everyone's uses. If you will only want fresh basil for a few occasions in the summer, then the fresh basil in the produce department might be the way to go, for you. After you've used the leaves that you needed for a particular recipe, chop and freeze the remaining leaves to have on hand for a couple more recipes this summer.

It's not too late to buy a small seedling from the nursery. If you get it potted up now, you will have enough basil for several batches of pesto, or adding to dishes in August and September.

If you are needing much more basil than what you would buy in the produce department, and want your basil NOW, you could buy a larger potted basil plant from a store like Trader Joe's. These pots are actually about 7 or 8 basil pants, potted together in 1 container. You would have some for pinching off now, and more to come in about a week, continuing through summer. For best results, when you get one of these larger pots of basil home, pot it up into an even larger pot, for additional root room and soil to hold moisture. Then, water it often, pinch back weekly, and give it a boost of liquid plant food every couple of weeks. Your pot of basil will do well, and provide all of your basil needs for this season, and then some for freezing.

It may be a bit late to start a large trough of basil from seeds, now. Unless you live where first frost doesn't occur until November. But you could plant up a pot of basil seeds now, to bring into your house to continue giving you fresh basil leaves through early December. In past years, I've started basil seeds in a small pot in mid-July, to bring indoors in fall. These plants generally lose their oomph by early December and decline in new leaf production, but it is fun to have a small pot of basil growing on the window sill when the days are shortening.

Banana boats

Do you remember these? Maybe from a Girl Scout camping trip, or at home sitting around a backyard campfire?

We made banana boats a lot when I was growing up. It was a reasonably "healthy" dessert, for this sweets-lover.

Banana, marshmallow and chocolate. There was always more banana than anything else. But that was a good thing. Cooking the banana brought out its sweetness.

Last week, my son brought several bananas home from work (they provide snacks at his office -- I mentioned this on my facebook page). Anyway, I baked banana bread, we made banana splits, and then on Thursday, I made banana boats for the family. This is one of those banana items that does well with older bananas.

I just used half a banana, each. I slit the halves and stuffed with a marshmallow (cut in half), and a chocolate candy (cut into bits).  Then baked these in the toaster oven, just after while we ate dinner. My mom used to wrap these in foil and cook over a campfire, in the coals.

My son tells me that a new batch of bananas will be brought in early this week . . .which means, those older bananas will be given away, again. Don't know if we'll be the lucky recipients, but more banana boats would be fun!

I sometimes wonder what life is like in other people's homes

And I know that you sometimes wonder how I do things, just out of curiosity, even if you have no intention of doing some of the things that I do in my home. I think that is just normal curiosity.

So, I thought I'd share one of the "hows" to what I do in the kitchen.

In the comments section, one day, someone asked how I decant mayonnaise from the large jars.

I've only bought 1-gallon jars of mayonnaise three times now. But these large jars are often the most economical-per-unit size of mayonnaise. A 1-gallon jar will last our family about 5 to 6 months. The quality remains good for us, for that entire time.

But the large size could be prone to spoilage and/or bacterial contamination, if not handled properly. For these three jars, this is how I've made it work for us.

So, commercial mayonnaise is fairly high in acid (vinegar and lemon juice). This combined with the salt content, makes an unfavorable environment for bacterial growth (http://www.wvagriculture.org/images/Literature/Mayo%20brochure.pdf).

Age-related spoilage of the product is not my primary concern. According to several sites, commercial mayonnaise can keep for up to 6 months, refrigerated, once opened. With this in mind, my aim is to reduce the chance of premature spoilage.

The biggest enemy to commercial mayonnaise is contamination from other sources, such as unclean hands or utensils. I avoid cross-contamination through some common sense practices, such as washing hands when cooking, and always dipping a clean utensil into the mayo jar.

So, to minimize any food-borne illness risk, I decant 1 cup of mayo at a time, from my 1-gallon jar. I use a freshly-sanitized *, 1/2-pint jar and large spoon, each time I decant another portion. 1/2 pint of mayo lasts our family not quite 2 weeks. By using such a small jar at a time, we reduce the risk of losing product due to spoilage, from contamination. (*I sanitize jars either in the dishwasher on the high-temp setting, or in a pot of water on the stove, as I'm sterilizing jars for homemade yogurt or preserves.)

To keep the 1-gallon jar in its best condition possible after opening, we store it in the kitchen refrigerator (as opposed to the garage one) where the temperature control is digital and very accurate.

And I use a sheet of plastic wrap, over the top of the jar, under the cap, to minimize air infiltration, from a poor-fitting lid. After decanting a portion, I scrape down the insides, then lay the piece of plastic wrap over the jar opening, before screwing the cap back on.

We do commercial mustard in a similar fashion. I buy it in 1-gallon jars, and decant small amounts at a time. Because mustard is very high in acid (vinegar), I decant into newly sanitized, 1-pint jars (instead of 1/2 pints), 3 jars at a time, so that it's easy for someone to grab a fresh jar as needed.

So, that's how I deal with those 1-gallon jars of condiments, that you read about in my grocery spending journal from time to time.