If for no other reason than that herbs are so green, I love having some purple basil in the garden. It’s very pretty mixed with green basil, fresh or dried, and it has lovely flowers later, too, if you let it bloom later in the year. This year it was hard to find, but I finally got one.
It’s actually a “ruby” basil, but it looks purple enough to me!
My basil is dwarfed right now by the big bushes of oregano, chives, and sage near it, but soon enough it will be filling up that corner of the herb garden. Can’t wait! I love fresh basil.
Pete says:
It took a while to get here, but have come to the conclusion that basil is the MOST versatile herb in the garden! Or on the shelf. We like it fresh, of course, but the dried form added to stuff is sooooo good, too!! :dancingmonster:
Was only planning to get a couple of basil plants yesterday, but three little ones were kind of stuck together, so there are three new ones in the ground. Too much basil? Is there such a thing??
On May 13, 2011 at 8:42 am
holstein woman says:
No Pete, there isn’t such a thing. I just learned about fresh Basil last year for lots of things besides dried and now Suzanne is going to teach me about purple basil, I never knew there was such a thing. Pretty, pretty herb garden.
On May 13, 2011 at 9:21 am
jkubemt1 says:
My husband and I have alot of basil being planted this year. Lemon, sweet, Thai, purple, and I think another I just can’t think of it right now but we have alot of each. During the season I will go out and pick fresh from the garden and use it with zuccini and spinich. When fall arrives and it’s time to harvest we dehydrate them and use all winter.
I do have to say that one of my favorit basils is the thai basil. With cod it is wonderful. So there is never too much basil.
On May 13, 2011 at 10:59 am
barbie says:
Your herb garden looks great! It’s too early here to plant basil, not frost free yet. I like to transplant a few basil plants into the garden, do a container on the deck, and also plant basil seeds
in the garden to hopefully extend the season. There is quite a variety of basil seeds to try. We like them all!
On May 13, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Bev in CA says:
I love Basil, making Pesto which I freeze. So easy to add to sauce. Everyting is ready, saves a lot of prep time. Saying that I love to rub any herb, just to inhale the aroma. Lemon Thyme, Sage, etc. Smells so good. We even lost our Rosemary this year to the freezing weather, but that is alright. Most of our herbs I plant as annuals. I am enjoying watching your herb garden grow. Thanks for sharing.
On May 13, 2011 at 1:05 pm
AnnieB says:
Basil is my favorite herb! Plain ol’ Italian basil is a must, but Thai basil is so so good and has a really different flavor. Bush basil is very pretty in the garden – it has teeny little leaves and grows in a nice compact bush that doesn’t get more than about a foot high.
On May 13, 2011 at 2:17 pm
lavenderblue says:
Last year I bought a container of basil that had garden basil, purple basil and Thai basil all growing together. I asked the lady selling it if I was supposed to separate them into three separate containers. She said no, they like to be planted together, sort of companion planting, that they grew better together. Has any one else ever heard that?
Hopefully all of them reseeded themselves. Basil is coming up in the container they were transplanted to. I’m just not sure which kind of basil it is, yet.
On May 13, 2011 at 4:17 pm
outbackfarm says:
Suzanne, if that’s anything like the purple basil I have, you will have way more than one pretty soon. It grows wild here around my well nouse. It smells so good when I step on it. I have never used it before but if I see something good I will try it. I do know that purple basil is like peppermint. So watch out!
On May 14, 2011 at 10:14 am