Week 10 - Year 1: Herbology Lessons

I'm no Neville Longbottom, but I hope Professor Sprout would give me decent marks on my latest experiment. I've added two herb containers to our garden with the help of my awesome aunt (who gave me the cute pots) and a marvelous co-worker (who found basil for me after my repeated failures to locate any).

Rosemarinus

Rosemary was the first herb added to our garden. We have already used it to great success in cooking a potato side dish. I planted the rosemary in a mix of peat poss and potting soil. It is only a week old, but it seems to be doing pretty well and was very tasty. My only question on this one is whether I should screw a hole into the bottom of the container. My research suggests that rosemary plants do require steady drainage, so I'm thinking we probably should add the hole to it, but this may be a bigger undertaking than I'm ready for - so we will risk it for now.

Basilicum

Our other newbie is a basil plant. I struggled to find basil every time I went out, but my awesome co-worker found some for me, so we are on our way with it. Like the rosemary, I planted it in a mix of peat moss and potting soil. Basil prefers to be pretty moist, so I'm not as worried about putting a hole in it.

The obvious and best usage for basil is PESTO - see the evidence above! Unfortunately, my basil plant is too young to produce this kind of awesomeness, but I spent a great morning making this pesto from scratch with some basil from my co-worker's garden. I can't wait to turn this into a creamy, decadent pesto pasta. Eventually, I will venture out and come up with some more uses for my basil, but right now I'm enjoying the pesto.

I've also learned that being an attorney can complicate gardening blogging, so my apologies for not posting over the past few weeks. I'll try to come up with some non-Harry Potter themes for the next post as well, but I can't help but find inspiration as I'm in the middle of re-reading the entire series.