Here’s a question I posed to my husband the other day: How do you tell the difference between a lawn that’s gone dormant and a lawn that’s just dead?
His answer: I guess time will tell which ours is.
Along with much of the rest of the country, Kansas is in the middle of a very tough drought.
It’s been especially hard on farmers. I see regular updates on our farmer’s market Facebook feed that yet another farmer has had to call it quits for the season.
I asked the lady who runs my favorite vegetable stand how they were still offering so many vegetables, and she said they had a river to irrigate from. At least for now.
Between the drought and traveling much of July, I’ve pretty much given up on my outdoor plants. I have my fingers crossed that the not hopelessly dead ones will come back in the fall.
But there has been one pleasant surprise: the pots of herbs I planted back in the early summer.
As long as they’re getting semi-regular waterings, they’ve proven to be pretty resistant to the 100+ temps we’ve had.
Growing Herbs in Outdoor Pots
This was my first attempt at growing pots of herbs outdoors and I wish I had done it sooner.
Here’s the super complicated method I used:
- Buy starter plants of the herbs I like best (basil, rosemary, chives, parsley, and mint.)
- Stick them in potting soil, making sure to put the mint in it’s own pot. (I know next to nothing about gardening, but I do know that mint will take over whatever else it’s around. This full pot — which was even fuller before the heat got so intense — started from one very small plant.)
- Water when the soil gets dry.
That’s it.
I’ll admit that when I planted these I had fantasies of going out to cut herbs for our dinner each night, a la Ina Garten/The Barefoot Contessa. Sadly, that would require me to actually cook dinner each night, which is it’s own kind of fantasy.
Especially in this heat.
But the few times I have cooked with the herbs I’ve grown, it’s been pretty satisfying.
Related post: Bruschetta Chicken Recipe
Right now it looks like that basil could use harvesting, huh?
Are you an herb gardener? Have any tips to share?
This post is part of One Project at a Time, Penny Pinching Party, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, and Creative Things Thursday.
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When I have more basil or mint than I need right away, I harvest and clean it, wrap it in a heavy plastic bag which I then seal in a vacuum bag and freeze it. I add to my stash all summer and into the fall. When I want fresh-tasting basil or mint in the middle of winter, I shave the amount I need off the frozen block with a heavy, sharp knife. Sure, the basil tends to lose its bright green color, but the flavor is still good.
Here are a few of the recipes I use the frozen basil in, each recipe makes sauce for about 8 ounces (250 grams) of pasta. You can double the recipes to serve more.
Pesto alla Trapanese
1 tbsp (.5 oz) pine nuts or slivered almonds, toasted in a dry skillet until fragrant.
6 oz. fresh vine-ripened tomatoes (cherry tomatoes are fine)
¼ cup (10.5 g, .4 oz.) fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp Tabasco sauce*
.5 oz. Parmesan cheese, cut small
Process in a food processor or blender until smooth, stopping and scraping down the sides as needed.
With the machine running, slowly add:
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Process until the mixture is emulsified.
*If you don’t have Tabasco sauce, you may use ¼ tsp vinegar and pinch of red pepper flakes.
Quick Pomodoro* Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
14 oz. can tomatoes, diced small** or crushed
1 ~ 1 ½ tbsp chopped fresh basil
⅛ tsp sugar
¼ ~ ½ tsp salt
Heat oil in a medium saute pan until shimmering. Add garlic, fry a few seconds and add tomatoes. Simmer sauce until it thickens slightly (10 ~ 15 minutes). Stir in basil, sugar and salt. Cook, stirring
constantly 1 minute and take off heat.
*For Quick Putanesca Sauce: Add 1~ 2 mashed anchovy fillets and ⅛ ~ ¼ tsp red pepper flakes with the garlic and 1 tbsp. capers and 6~10 pitted and chopped Kalamata olives with the tomatoes.
**Size your tomatoes according to the pasta; the thinner the noodles, the smaller the pieces of tomato should be.
Pasta alla Norma
(Sauce or 8 oz.. penne, ziti or rigatone)
10 ~ 12 oz. eggplant, cut into ½-in. cubes
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tbsp vegetable oil
½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium cloves of garlic, mashed
½ tsp mashed anchovy fillet
⅛ to ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp (.1 oz.) minced fresh basil
½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
1½ oz. grated sharp cheese such as ricotta salata or Romano, to serve
Toss eggplant with salt and spread it on a paper-towel lined plate. Microwave on high for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let cool slightly.
Transfer eggplant to bowl. Toss with ½ tbsp oil. Heat ½ tbsp in a large-to-medium non-stick skillet. Fry eggplant, stirring gently every 2 minutes until it is well browned. Remove from skillet.
Add ½ tbsp oil to skillet and add the garlic, anchovies and red pepper. Saute until the garlic turns golden and add the tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer about until slightly thickened; about 10 minutes.
Return eggplant to skillet with tomatoes and stir gently. Heat for 3~5 minutes. Stir in basil, olive oil and salt to taste.
While the sauce is simmering, bring salted water to rolling boil, covered, in large pot. Cook the pasta until al dente and drain, reserving ¼ cup water to thin the sauce. Return the pasta to the warm cooking pot and toss with the sauce, thinning with the reserved water if necessary. Serve immediately, sprinkled with grated cheese.
Classic Pesto
Parsley helps to make the pesto a brighter green. Instead, you may omit the parsley and substitute fresh mint for half the basil. (Some people prefer the lighter flavor this gives the pesto.) Another method to keep the color bright green is to blanch the basil in boiling water for a few seconds and shock it in ice water before chopping or freezing. If you don’t care what it looks like, just use the fresh basil as is. if fresh garlic is too potent for your taste, Blanch unpeeled cloves of garlic in boiling water for 45 seconds and cool under the tap before peeling and mincing.
2 tbsp pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, toasted in a skillet until fragrant.
1~2 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 oz. (1 cup) fresh basil leaves, bruised and chopped
(1 tbsp fresh parsley or mint, chopped)
3½ tbsp olive oil
Pinch salt
.3 oz. Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
Process nuts, garlic, basil, (parsley or mint), and salt in a food processor until they are smooth. Add olive oil in a thin stream and process until is is emulsified. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese. The pesto may be kept in the refrigerator under a film of olive oil and covered with plastic wrap for up to 5 days.
Thin the pesto with a little of the pasta cooking water before tossing with the sauce. Some people like to thin it with heavy cream or yoghurt, instead.
Notes: You may also use the pesto as an ingredient in soups and other pasta sauces (such as white clam sauce) , or as a sandwich spread or condiment. Pesto can be very strong, so use to taste. This recipe may sauce up to 1 lb. of pasta, depending on the diner’s preference. The pesto may double-wrapped and frozen for several months; but in that case, add the cheese after thawing.
Wow, Rachel. Good info and great recipes. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. I should have said that these recipes serve 2 people as a main course or 3 with other courses and they taste best when you use the best quality extra-virgin olive oil you can find.
Oh, and here’s a pasta sauce with mint:
Roasted Pepper Sauce
2 ripe bell peppers, cored, seeded, roasted, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, minced
½ tbsp capers, drained
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, set aside to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Serve with 8 oz. penne, fusilli, farfalle or other small pasta shapes; reserve a little of the pasta water to moisten the sauce if needed.
Your herbs look good, but they tend to love heat. Be sure to nip off the flowering tops of the basil as they appear or your basil will get bitter (I overheard that at the farmer’s market the other week!)
I like to dry herbs. I have a dehydrater and it goes so fast I have to be careful not to burn them. I just dried little bags of basil, rosemary, chives and french tarragon and gave them as a gift. I’ve also heard of mixing the herbs with olive oil and freezing in ice cubes trays. Then pop them out when frozen and keep frozen in a zip-top bag for fresh-tasting herbs all winter. If you choose to grow oregano – keep it confined to a pot as it will take over too.
I not much for cooking – especially in the summer, but I did make this a couple times and my husband loved it. I chopped up some tomatoes, mozzarella cheese cubes, cucumbers and a bunch of basil (put the leaves in a tea cup and snip them with a scissors!). Pour on some Italian dressing and mix it up. I added some left over chicken and that was good too.
I’ve been wanting to make and freeze pesto – so thanks to the recipes above, I may actually give it a shot. Happy herb-growing!
Teresa…more great info. Thanks. I did “harvest” my basil this weekend. Hopefully I got to it before it got bitter. That tomatoes/mozarella/cucumbers/basil dish sounds delicious. Summer eating is the best, isn’t it?
Our vegetable garden is basically done producing as well, but our potted herbs are still going strong. I love how thick and fragrant the rosemary can become. We’ve even planted some in the backyard flower beds and they look like mini pine bushes filling in empty spots where other plants did not survive. Rosemary adds a wonderful flavor to roasted potatoes!
Good reminder on the potatoes, Bestmommy. I share all the things you love about rosemary!
I love to grow arugula, thyme, rosemary, sage, basil and mint – all in pots. I have a small garden but maximize space with lots of pots and tucking veggie plants where I can. I grew artichokes this year – in the front flower bed! They’re a beautiful plant and need lots of sunshine.
On the grass….my son (whose job it is to mow the lawn!) lives for our grass to die every summer!! He hopes it dries out sooner rather than later. It’s brown and looks dead by August but every year comes back green when fall hits – and the rain.
Pretty pictures, Julie!!
Good to know about the grass, Sara. Fingers crossed!
We get a new basil plant every spring- it never seems to last the winter, but we love having fresh basil for the summer. Half of our rosemary plant died one year, but the other half is going strong. And I’m thrilled with our apple mint. We did just add thyme to the mix, so we’ll see how it goes.
Though right now, I’m mostly excited about my cherry tomatos and pepper plants.
Cherry tomatoes are in my plans for next year. I like to move slowly.
And pepper plants would be great too. I’m loving all this “herb” talk.
I just started this year with a few herbs, I love your pots that is a great idea. I did the same with mine so I could move them when the temps get up past 105 then move them back. This comment thread has so much info! Love it!
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