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Late Spring Blooming
This morning the air was thick with the fragrance of the blooming world around our house; Privet, honeysuckle, musk rose, greenbriar, not to mention the ordinary roses in my yard! Damn near makes one swoon.
Another must-grow wherever I garden is one or several of the citrus-scented basils. There’s several versions of the lemon-scented as well as an orange I’ve never tried; my favorite is the lime-scented from Johnny’s. (No, I don’t work for them – I just plug them a lot because they’ve been a main source of seed for me for many years.) Anyway, these are all small-leafed basils that bolt almost immediately to very fragrant long blooms. If you broadcast-sow a 3′ x5′ patch of loose, rich, warm soil it will result in a very fragrant drift that will probably re-seed for several seasons. The flowers make a great “green popouri” in bowls around the house and the leaves are great with fish and chicken. Major bee attractor as well.
Yeah!!! re Johnny’s seeds! We started buying from them when they first went into business when we were on the farm in South Dakota – I’ve always been pleased with them. The first Edomame Bean I ever grew was from them back in the early 80’s. What a great discovery! Much better than fresh limas in my opinion.
This year I ordered the lemon-basil and it’s up and out in the ground. I also planted Purple Ruffles which has an irregular purple spotted affect. For years I grew the small leafed globe basil cause it went in the front of a border particularly well. There are so many basil’s to choose from but I alway have Mammoth and Genovese.
I haven’t grown Genovese in a few years – a lot of my focus is on market gardening so I stick with Mammoth because I can havest so much more in the same time. For a really fun purple accent in the summer garden the cinnamon-scented basil is a nice touch, plus it is really tasty in keftadiatas or whatever you call those little lamb-ball Greek appetizer things. We’re also having good luck (as always) this year with the Bennarie’s Giant zinnias from Johnny’s – I’ve got seven or eight patchs of it going at different places around the garden and in friends’ yards. Plus there was an old tire someone left in the garden, so I filled it with soil and planted zinnias so I could tell the visitors and tourists “Well, in my part of the South a tire planter says “We’re not just trash – we’re TRAILER trash!”
Another fun one from Johnny’s – especially if you know any teachers – are the new “herb discs.” They came with these a few years ago – basically they look like a paper CD or DVD, but the paper has been coated with carefully spaced herb seeds. They’ve got small-leaf basil, cilantro, arugula, chives, some other stuff – it’s about $12 for six assorted discs with a half-dozen 6″ tan plastic pots and saucers. Just fill the pots with soil, lay down the seed disc, and water. Great cheap project for grade-school kids or anyone whose “garden” is a window sill.
3 Comments
jim
Leni –
Another must-grow wherever I garden is one or several of the citrus-scented basils. There’s several versions of the lemon-scented as well as an orange I’ve never tried; my favorite is the lime-scented from Johnny’s. (No, I don’t work for them – I just plug them a lot because they’ve been a main source of seed for me for many years.) Anyway, these are all small-leafed basils that bolt almost immediately to very fragrant long blooms. If you broadcast-sow a 3′ x5′ patch of loose, rich, warm soil it will result in a very fragrant drift that will probably re-seed for several seasons. The flowers make a great “green popouri” in bowls around the house and the leaves are great with fish and chicken. Major bee attractor as well.
Leni the cook
Yeah!!! re Johnny’s seeds! We started buying from them when they first went into business when we were on the farm in South Dakota – I’ve always been pleased with them. The first Edomame Bean I ever grew was from them back in the early 80’s. What a great discovery! Much better than fresh limas in my opinion.
This year I ordered the lemon-basil and it’s up and out in the ground. I also planted Purple Ruffles which has an irregular purple spotted affect. For years I grew the small leafed globe basil cause it went in the front of a border particularly well. There are so many basil’s to choose from but I alway have Mammoth and Genovese.
jim
I haven’t grown Genovese in a few years – a lot of my focus is on market gardening so I stick with Mammoth because I can havest so much more in the same time. For a really fun purple accent in the summer garden the cinnamon-scented basil is a nice touch, plus it is really tasty in keftadiatas or whatever you call those little lamb-ball Greek appetizer things. We’re also having good luck (as always) this year with the Bennarie’s Giant zinnias from Johnny’s – I’ve got seven or eight patchs of it going at different places around the garden and in friends’ yards. Plus there was an old tire someone left in the garden, so I filled it with soil and planted zinnias so I could tell the visitors and tourists “Well, in my part of the South a tire planter says “We’re not just trash – we’re TRAILER trash!”
Another fun one from Johnny’s – especially if you know any teachers – are the new “herb discs.” They came with these a few years ago – basically they look like a paper CD or DVD, but the paper has been coated with carefully spaced herb seeds. They’ve got small-leaf basil, cilantro, arugula, chives, some other stuff – it’s about $12 for six assorted discs with a half-dozen 6″ tan plastic pots and saucers. Just fill the pots with soil, lay down the seed disc, and water. Great cheap project for grade-school kids or anyone whose “garden” is a window sill.