For a few years I’ve been working on an herb garden in my backyard to use in cooking.  I love fresh herbs in salad, marinades for meat grilled outside –  even dried for winter.  My mint, lavender, and chives always come back.  But basil, I am told, is not a perennial.  Don’t you believe it!  It reseeds itself.

Last year at the end of the fall season before the first cold snap, I cut the tops off the basil that had flowered and kept it in an open zip lock bag in the utility room while it dried out.  I didn’t want it to mold.  When spring came, I divided it up into smaller baggies and gave the dried leaves and seeds to friends and family.  It looked a lot like an illegal substance as I handed it out at work.

I buried the whole stem with dried flowers and seeds in an old galvanized trash can and guess what came up?  Basil!      It is also coming up in the cracks of the sidewalk and in the flowerbed where it grew last year.  It is all over the backyard now and I know I will have seeds for next year. 

   If you like basil, please come get some!  It is green and lush (no pesticides have been used on it) and ready for your table.  If you are interested, I can provide you with seeds in the spring too.

What can you do with fresh basil?