Happy weekend, lovelies. I hope you’re having a great one. I’ve found myself with a (very) rare moment of quiet with Chris out on a bike ride and the girls both asleep with sweaty heads. It probably won’t last long, but I’m soaking up a tiny bit of me-time. So I wanted to share a few pics from this week’s pesto fun. We’re finally getting to enjoy something from the garden: basil!
Why do I always think I’ll enjoy my tomatoes with my fresh basil, but my basil usually has come and gone before my tomatoes are ready? I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong with the basil, but we’re all enjoying it so much right now while it’s still growing strong. Wren picked all the basil for the pesto we made this week. This is a great thing for little hands to do. In fact at one point I asked her to look at me so I could take a picture and she said, “can I just pick, Mama?!” Apparently the paparazzi is getting a bit out of control around here. Sorry, kid, just trying to capture these fleeting moments…
We had grilled basil pesto pizza one night, a basil pesto pasta another night and three mornings in a row we had green eggs (scrambled eggs with pesto on top) with ham! But you’re only allowed to make and eat them AFTER you’ve read the book for the billionth time, Sam I Am.
Oh, and we had pesto straight off the spoon too… we just can’t seem to get enough.
Are you enjoying anything from your garden yet, lovelies? Or is it mostly just big and green and overrun with weeds like mine? Arrghh. Any tips on how I can get the basil from bolting before the tomatoes are ready? Please and thank you.
Yes! We love pesto too. . . so much. And I love your photos—paparazzi mom!
The best way to keep basil growing and growing is to pick from the top of the plant. That way it will keep sending up more and more leaves. . . and it should definitely last you until those tomatoes are ready. But, in case you should need more. . . I just planted 18 baby basil plants in my garden (you know, because the 18 we already have just don’t seem to be enough!).
I thought of one more important thing about harvesting basil: make sure you pick off all the little clusters that want to turn into flowers. If you keep picking off the wanna-be flower shoots, you will encourage the plant to keep making leaves!
Thanks for the tips – I will get Wren right on it!
Hi, just keep pinching off the flowers, daily. The basil will get big and bushy.
Thanks for the tip. We better get picking!
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