How to harvest and properly store basil?

August 15, 2021August 15, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So as a new gardener I came to this bump in the road and questioning what is the right way to harvest basil? So I’ve scoured the internet and also asked my father on what’s the proper way to harvest and store basil. These are the steps that I’ve learned on how to do just that.

Materials:

Paper towels

Ice water in a bowl or plastic container is fine

Scissors

Gallon size bag

Basil plants

Step 1: Go through your plant and take out all the dead leaves that have fallen on the soil.

Step 2: Start cutting the stems right after the first node of the mature basil. The mature basil will have two big leaves and two small leaves on it like the one in this picture. You want to make sure you harvest the basil before those two little leaves form seeds. Once it starts forming seeds it will die. Doing this will also help encourage new and more growth. You will see more stems growing and sprouting.

The node is right above my thumb. So you want to cut between where my thumb and where the two stems shoot off of the main stem.

Step 3: once you have harvested your basil go through them and take out any leaves that are starting to become diseased. You don’t want to eat those.

Step 4: cut off and discard the stems of your basil.

Step 5: take your leaves and run them under water to take off any soil or critters that may still be on them. Pat them as dry as you can get them with paper towels

After I harvested one of my two basil pots

Step 6: Put them in the ice cold water for 15 seconds. This will shock them and help stop them from going bad.

Step 7 pat them dry with a paper towel and fold the paper towel with the basil in it and store in a gallon sized bag.

The ones on the left is right after the ice bath and the ones on the right are about to be put into ziplock bags.

Step 8: repeat steps 6 and 7 if necessary.

Step 9 date and freeze your bags for future use.

Don’t forget to sign up and subscribe for more updates with our garden journey!

Our Gardening Journey week 10

August 8, 2021August 9, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week I’ve made some changes in my garden that have both were positives and negatives. You can say that I’m still learning from my mistakes. I do have a lot to tell you guys so let get on to it.

The first thing is that I’ve made a few changes. The first thing that I did was I fertilized my plants so much so that some of the are dying. I know now that I over fertilized them. I literally killed my smallest basil plants. I also repotted my bell pepper and tomotes. I have two types of tomotes growing. One of them is a small type of tomato and the other is a larger type of tomato. I had one small tomato plant left inside and so I added that one to the black container outside that I already had of the same kind. However, the larger tomato I put in a pot that I had outside. I also bought these nettings to put over them. You can buy these nettings here. I love them so much I have already seen a difference in my other plants outside and the amount of vegetables that are coming in. The best part about these netting is that they keep out those pesky bugs. They aren’t just good to keep out pesky bugs but also animals like birds, squirrels and dogs too. The best part is that you get a set of 3 for under $10.00. I also have so many green beans that are growing now it’s insane. I’ve also cleaned up my cucumbers and green bean plants from the dead leaves.

My large tomato plant that I transplanted outside. These were getting too big for this container.

The second thing that my husband and I are working on is getting rid of the vines that are growing on our hill. Ok so it’s just my husband working on it. In Georgia we have what is called kudzo that grows here. If you know what kudzo is then you know that it grows back fast. Like really insanely fast. That is what is mostly growing on our hill. We have cut down a lot of the shrubs that were growing but now he is tackling killing the roots. We have found a solution mixture that has been killing it. So make sure you sign up for my email news letter and watch out for a new post on that.

The last thing that I did was I cut back some of the dead leaves on my green bean and cucumber plants. I saw a lot more green beans budding out and I didn’t want any more of my green bean plants to get sick. My cucumbers plant had a lot of dead leaves so I wanted to clean that up as well. I also tied some of the vines to the trellises with some special wiring that I got with the purchase of the trellises.

Overall, this week has been a crazy week over in our garden. I’m excited to be expanding our garden. I still cannot decide whether I want to grow my vegetables above ground or make a in ground garden. I do know that I really am enjoying doing this. Make sure you subscribe to our email for more weekly updates!

Our Gardening Journey week 9 This is what I used to keep pesky bugs away.

August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.

So this week is going to be a short but exciting post. I’ve made a few changes that have helped the growth of my plants. Keep on reading to find out what is new around here.

The first thing that has changed is that I bought more self watering plants. I ended up finding these pots that are below. I think they are a great value. You can get a lot more pots for the price. The total number of pots that I received is 6. It’s been a couple of days since I’ve transplanted my tomatoes into them and I can tell that they are making a difference. I can see more growth and my plants look more livelier. I didn’t want to buy pots that were expensive. I wanted something where I don’t have to worry about watering them everyday. A plus side to these compared to the other ones that I have is that if you place them near a window you can see through them and see how much water the plant has.

The light part of the pot in this picture is the water.

The second thing that I’ve done was Ive transplanted my small cherry tomatoes from a white pot to my trellis pots outside. I’ve also added these netting’s as well. All I can say is that wow I’ve seen a huge difference in the over all health of my vegetables outside. It has kept a lot of bugs off the plants. So much so that a green bean popped out! I’m so excited that I’ve already had a vegetable come out. My cucumbers are also flowering like crazy too. In fact I had to tie more of the stems onto the trellis because they were hanging over each other. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t get these any earlier. I 100% recommend these to anyone that has trellises outside.

I actually had two green beans pop out this week! Can you spot the green bean in this picture?

The last thing that I did was I harvested my basil. I had to do this because I have a ton that is over growing in my pots. So much so that the roots are coming out the bottom of my self watering pot. Make sure you subscribe to my email list and watch out for a post in the near future of how I saved my basil harvest.

Overall, I’m really ecstatic about how far my plants have come along. The next thing that my husband and I are going to try and tackle are the flies because we have a bunch of them that we’re trying to eat my plants outside and they are coming inside as well.

Our Gardening Journey week 7 & 8

July 26, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This week I’ve decided to combine week 7 and 8 because of a few different reasons. One of them is because every day for the last 2 to 3 weeks it has been raining. So we do have a lot of growth but also parts of my plants are dying. The other reason is that I wasn’t feeling too well after my second covid shot. My body is still recovering from that. Overall, I’m excited to show and tell you some things that I have done this week.

Gardening is very calm and exciting to me. I love knowing that I can grow something that started off from a seed. These past few weeks I have transplanted my tomatoes into a bigger pot. I think I’m actually starting to run out of pots. I found an old pot that I had from our last house and transplanted tomatoes into because I noticed that it needed room to grow.

The second thing that I noticed was that I had some growth and my plants are somewhat dying outside. I know you are asking yourself how can your plants be growing and dying at the same time? Well, I think my plants are dying because of the insects eating it. I know is not from a lack of water because we have had rain for the past 3 weeks every afternoon. I’m trying to find the best netting that will keep out the bugs. I also have a lot of new growth as well. My cucumbers and green beans are starting to flower. I also may have accidentally not watered my indoor plants because I was sick these past couple of days. I hope the they will revive though.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my plants are doing. I was pretty sure I was going to kill them all when I first started doing this a few weeks ago. So far I think I’m doing okay. If you have gotten down this far then make sure to subscribe to my email list for more updates!

Our Gardening Journey week 7

July 13, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.

So we had changed around somethings this week with our plants. The first thing that I did was I transplanted more plants into containers. The next thing that happened was that we had more seedlings grow. Lastly, I found some garden treasures at the dollar tree! At the end of this blog I have linked the items to where you can find them.

The first thing that I did this past week was we transplanted our flowers into containers outside. We already transplanted in week 6 our cucumbers and green beans but this time we transplanted our perennials. So far they seem to be doing fine. We just have to make one more adjustment to our hanging pots. I also combined my basil in my containers inside as well. So far the green bean plants are growing just fine. We even have some green beans starting to come out! However, it looks like our cucumber plant is struggling a bit. I don’t know if it’s from the shock of being outside or maybe bugs are harming it or what. I do think that it is having some new growth though. Here in the good old southern USA it does rain a lot during the month of July. Literally every afternoon for the past two weeks we have had rain.

The second thing that is exciting for is that my seedlings are starting to grow. So far the flowers and tomatoes are growing fast. However, peppers can take 10-21 days to germinate. I’m hoping to have lots of vegetables growing this year.

The last thing that I did this week was that I went to the dollar store and I found some cute items for my garden. I found some pretty cute garden decorations like this sun flower, butterfly and lady big. If you go anywhere else you will find them marked up to $10.00. I also found these cute little garden fairies to put in my containers. I found the same ones on Amazon for $5.00. I was sure glad that I bought mine at the dollar store though! You of course can’t have fairies with out a fairy door of course!

Overall, this week was was a overall good week! I love knowing that I can grow food for my family. I have some big plans coming up for my garden soon!

Links of what items I bought:

Sunflower stake

http://shrsl.com/32oia

Fairy Garden

http://shrsl.com/32oip

Our Gardening Journey week 6

July 7, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week I had made some major changes to our garden. I not only managed to repot some plants but I somehow ended up buying more seeds to grow more flowers and vegetables.

The first thing that I did was I repotted some of the vegetables and flowers. Weeks ago I bought some special trellises that came in a pack of 3 and can hold up to 40 quarts of soil. So far they are holding up really well. I desperately needed to replant the green beans and cucumbers. However, my tomatoes are taking some time to grow so those won’t be getting transplanted for a while. I also replanted the Jumping Junipers and Sweet Williams into two flower hanging pots. Every thing that I bought off of Amazon is linked below. If you click on the Amazon link you will be directed where I bought my items.

The second thing that I did was I somehow ended up back at home depo to buy more vegetable seeds. This time however I bought purple coneflowers, bell peppers, and a different kind of tomato called a cloudy day hybrid tomato.

Overall, I’m excited to see our little garden grow! You can certainly say that I caught the gardening bug! I’m hoping to make our backyard into our own little piece of heaven.

Our Gardening Journey week 5

June 30, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this weeks post is going to be a little bit different. Instead of an update on our plants I thought that I would do a mini series of our yard. My husband has been working on this project for a few weeks and you can say that it is a work in progress.

So our yard is a pretty good size yard with a lot of room for our son and dog to run around. However, we have this huge problem that is an eyesore. We have a side hill with tall grass and poisonous plants. At the top of the side hill is what looks like brown vines. What is underneath those vines is a barb wired fence. we can’t take out this fence because the people that own the property behind us own it. However, my husband is week by week cleaning the hill.

The first thing my husband did was to kill a majority of the poisonous plants and to cut down the tall grass using a weed whacker. The next thing that he is planning to do is to plow the hill to get all the weeds up. In the fall we are going to put down a protective barrier so that weeds don’t come up. My plan is to hopefully plant my garden in that side hill because it does get the best sunlight.

Oh, did I also mention the iron metal pole that is sticking out on the hill as well? If I showed you in person you would easily be able to see it but in these pictures it is hard to find. The pole is so deep that he couldn’t get it up and so he had to use a saw to cut it down.

Overall, my husband has done a really good job with cleaning up the eyesore of a hill. Also, one thing to add is that the construction company added that tree on the hill where the pine straw is. Either it will come out completely or maybe it will stay. Even though we still have a long way of cleaning up the hill I’m excited to have a garden of our own.

Our gardening Journey week 4

June 23, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 2 Comments

I know I said last week that we had a ton of growth in our garden but holy smokes we sure did see a lot this week too! If you haven’t read my last blog post of our gardening Journey then please do so. Over the course of the last week I have figured out what mistakes I have made and what works and what doesn’t work.

First off,I planted more seeds and got rid of the pods that didn’t have any growth at all. I planted more sweet tomatoes, basil, sweet Williams, jumping junipers, and green beans. I didn’t plant anymore cucumbers because I already have a ton of those. I think a part of the problem was the pods that I got with the jiffy seed starter kit. I think it must have been the soil in the pods because only half of the seeds that I planted germinated. However, out of the 25 pods that I used for the new seeds growing I had probably 5 pods total that didn’t germinate. The pods that I used is right below and you can get them on Amazon cheaper than in store.

The next thing that I also did was I transplanted my pods into plastic cups with the potting soil that I bought. I used plastic cups that were left over from my son’s birthday party. I didn’t want to go out and buy more potted pots and overspend especially since they will be in their for a few weeks. I also noticed that my jiffy seed starter box was becoming a little bit too crowed and the roots of the green beans started to come out of the pods.

After that I did or I should say did not do was put plant fertilizer. Now, I am going to put some fertilizer on my plants in two weeks but I think that also killed half my seeds too. I can say that not doing that did help a lot. I wanted to give the seeds a chance to germinate the second time around.

The last thing that I did do was read the labels on the seed packets. I admit that I was so excited about growing plants that I didn’t think to read the label. The green beans and sweet William seeds require soaking the seeds in warm water overnight.

Overall, I learned new things along the way. I hope expand our garden and spend a little less money on groceries. Also, to note is that my husband is also working on a huge backyard project himself where I hope to one day plant our garden. That project is a project that will not be done for weeks or even months.

Our Gardening Journey week 3

June 16, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So I’ve made a lot of changes this week with my little plants. Some have grown a lot and some not very much. I’ve learned what has worked and what mistakes I’ve made so far.

First thing to start off with, I bought more supplies. I didn’t buy them to start off with because I wanted to wait and see what I would need all while trying not to break the bank. I ended up buying a few things such as potting soil, self watering indoor containers, a potted plant cage container and more pellets. The potting soil that I bought is one that can be used for indoor and outdoor plants. Which is great because I want to hang some flower pots outside on our front porch. I used espoma organic mix for indoor and outdoor pots. I wish I would have bought more bags of this mix.

The second thing that I bought is self watering containers. Eventually I want to use these to grow herbs inside but for right now they are being used to help grow cucumbers and basil. It’s already been a few days and I can already see a lot of growth happening. I even see new stems growing after I potted these. I honestly love these little containers cause all you need to do is just water them in the smaller black hole once a week or once a month depending on the plant you have.

As you can see I became resourceful and used a plastic fork from my son’s recent birthday party to help hold up this cucumber plant.

The third thing that I bought is a pack of 3 plant cages. The bottom of the plant cage is what looks like a big black bag that you will plant your plants in. Most plant cages are expensive but I decided to go with this one because of the cost and the fact that you get 3 of them. I haven’t used these just yet but when I do I will post them. Below are the ones that I bought. These are the cheapest ones that I bought.

Lastly, I bought more refill jiffy pellets on Amazon to replant plants that did not grow the first time around. So far I see a lot more growth this time around. I think these pellets are better to start off with then the ones that already come with the containers. I didn’t have a lot of growth the last time.

This week I learned what I could have done differently. Well for starters I soaked my sweet Williams and green bean seeds overnight in warm water. I think that was my biggest issue with them not growing. I don’t know if it will make a difference but I figured that I would try it. I also am kind of experimenting to see it the green beans and sweet William seeds will germinate in my little green house or in a cup that I put some potting soil in. I also think that I over watered them too much too and that may have also killed them too.

Overall, I know I’ve learned what I can do better for this round of seeds. I want to know what mistakes did you make when you first started gardening. Please add them in the comments! I have also added in the links where to find them on Amazon!

Our gardening Journey week 2

June 9, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So I’m going to start off by saying wow some of these plants are growing fast. However, I think I will have to start over with the others. My goal is to become somewhat self sustainable and cut down on grocery costs when it comes to vegetables. I also want to teach my son about the beauty of our world.

Some of the pods look like they have mold growing in them. I will be removing the cucumbers and the other plants that have already sprouted from this container.

I’ve grown fruits and vegetables before but I wouldn’t say that I’m an expert by any means. I am defiantly going to have to pot some of these this week. I am also going to have to retry seeding my perennials and green beans.

I’ve planted green beans, sweet William perennials, cucumbers, Johnny pop ups perennials, sweetie tomatoes and basil. So far the basil, tomatoes, and cucumbers are growing. If you have any tips or tricks to get green beans or perennials to grow please let me know in the comments below

Don’t forget to subscribe to get notifications on new blog posts!

1 blogger momma

Tips for new mommas, having kids, gardening and life in general!

Tag: gardening 101