The Bemilie Blog

While most of the plants in our garden seem to be growing in size but not producing much due to temperatures hovering in the low 70’s I couldn’t help but notice the size the herbs were getting to be.  The basil had grown to what may be considered a “bumper crop”, so I took my kitchen sheers out to our little raised bed and trimmed down the thirteen basil plants to half of their height. When I came inside with my garden basket piled with basil trimmings Ben looked at me wide eyed and asked:  “What are you going to do with all of that?” “Why, make pesto of course!” I replied, happily placing the stalks in to a vase for when I could get to them later.
 

I found  this pesto recipe:

Nona’s Pesto from DigginFood.com

What you’ll need:
4  packed cups of fresh Italian basil leaves (I use the variety ‘Genovese’)
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Instructions:
1. In a food processor, blend the basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese into a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then, with the blade running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Process until the olive oil is thoroughly incorporated and the pesto is smooth. Give the pesto a taste and add salt if necessary.

2. The pesto will keep for up to a week if refrigerated in a covered container. Bring it to room temperature and give it a good stir before using it in a recipe. To freeze, fill the individual cells of an ice cube tray with pesto and place in the freezer until solid. Then, wrap each cube of pesto in plastic and place back in the freezer. To freeze larger portions, line a small cookie sheet or pizza pan with waxed paper. Drop ¼ cup mounds onto the wax paper and freeze until solid. Wrap each mound tightly in plastic and store in the freezer. Drop the frozen cubes of pesto into soups or sauces. When using frozen pesto in a pasta dish, allow the pesto to unthaw and then stir in a few teaspoons of pasta water before tossing it with the cooked pasta—this helps distribute the pesto throughout the pasta evenly.
 
We ended up with 2 cups worth of pesto which I separated out into four ½ cup containers and froze half for future consumption.  Ben mixed some in with pasta for dinner that night, and may I just say it was quite tasty!

I have to say that two months ago I thought Portland’s growing season would never arrive. Now that it’s here, I’m practically beside myself with glee. I have spent just about every weekend outside either planting or pulling weeds or just admiring my plants’ progress. In fact, I’m so proud of my vegetable babies that I’ve been taking progress pictures of my snow peas (which have been growing something like an inch a day)

Oregon Snow Peas Day 1

Oregon Snow Peas, 2 weeks later

and the planter with the rest of the plants in it. Yesterday morning when I let Cleo out in the back yard I couldn’t help but to wander over to my Oregon Snow Peas and check on their progress, and my heart skipped a beat when I discovered blossoms sprouting from the plant. It feels like I have been waiting forever to see some sign of progress other than physical growth. It’s only been two months, but it can seem like forever when you’re waiting for something good to happen.

Ben has been teasing me lately because every time I go to the nursery, whether it be for plant stands or fertilizer, I always manage to come home with new plants to add to our garden. Two weeks ago, it was more oregano and a lemon verbena plant, and last week it was strawberries. Ben has jokingly placed a ban on me going to the nursery without him.

Strawberry plants in the back pot, sage and oregano in the terra cotta pot.

Last night I proudly plucked a few leaves from our sweet basil and Greek oregano plants to put in olive oil with pasta. I could have used the dried spices in the cabinet next to the stove, but why bother when I’ve got fresh herbs 10ft away? I swear, nothing made me prouder than ripping those leaves up in to the oil. Part of me almost wishes I had taken a picture of it to savor the moment in the future. I can’t imagine what I’ll feel like when we have tomatoes and zucchini coming out of our ears.

Here’s the most recent picture of our raised bed.

Raised garden bed 5-30-09

I planted the tomatoes and herbs in the raised bed we built this morning. In the bed: (back left) Viva Italia Roma Tomato, Fantastic Tomato, Shady Lady Tomato, (back right) Sweet Millions Cherry Tomato.  (Front Left) Sage, 10 Sweet Basil Sprouts, (front right) Greek Oregeno. In the middle of the planter and to the left and right in pots are marigolds. I’ve read that marigolds are great for warding off pests or “sacraficial plants”.  Looking forward to caring for these plants in the season to come.

As the winter months begin to draw to a close and the weather begins to tease us that it might someday be nice and warm out, we have begun to plan out the plantings in our yard. Last year not much happened in the way of gardening we spent most of the spring and summer just getting used to having a yard to take care of. We put in two rose bushes, bought a lawn mower, and thought and dreamed and planned about what else our yard could be.

In the post holiday gloom we attended a monthly event which we have come to call the “Married Couple Collective” (MCC) and one of our friends shared this video with us:

This Lawn is Your Lawn from roger doiron on Vimeo.

After watching the video we all agreed that growing our own produce was a good way to provide for ourselves in the down turning economy as well as support the effort toward “greener” living. With that in mind, our thoughts have turned from ornamental gardening to productive gardening.

I started some basil seeds in our garden window a few weeks ago and they are just starting to poke their heads out of the soil.

Basil

Also, I ordered four different tomato plants to be delivered in the first part of April: “Sweet Millions” cherry tomato, “Viva Italia” Roma tomato, “Shady Lady” tomato, and “Fantastic” tomato. I am looking forward to having an over abundance of tomatoes when the time comes and being able to share the wealth. In preparation for the tomato plants arrival Kam and Erin, two members of the MCC, came over to the house and helped us build a raised planter bed.

Kam, Emilie and Erin Working

It was definitely an interesting weather day – one where the phrase: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” It was cold and we had sun to hail and everything in between. If nothing else it added to the fun of the day and we got the bed almost completely built.

Almost completed bed

We’re going to have some dirt delivered to fill it in and give it time to settle before the tomato plants get placed in the bed. We are hoping to build another bed to plant zucchini, green beans, and onion in.