This will probably be the last big harvest of basil here. I say big but it is all relative right? This is a 3 gallon bucket of basil I picked this morning. I’ve been picking off of 3 plants of sweet basil this summer and 1 plant of purple ruffles. Generally I would cut the plants back drastically when I started to see the flower heads forming. I made sure to leave a couple of sets of leaves each time and the plants rewarded me with even more growth. As a rule I give them a shot of fertilizer right after harvest. If the weather holds out this fall I may get another small cutting. This year the plants were grown in containers, two with my grape tomato plant in a half barrel and the other two in another large planter. They have done better than in previous years probably because they are easily accessable and I can see them when I water which means they are more apt to get what they need when they need it and are harvested promptly. I think next year I will double the number of plants in containers.

The leaves were brought inside and cleaned off. I don’t spray them with anything so generally I just give them a good shaking just in case there are hitchhikers. Any chewed or touch older leaves go into the compost pile. I may or may not remove the leaf rib. If the leaf tends to tear away from the rib it is removed if it all comes off in one piece i pinch the leaf stem back to the beginning of the leaf blade. The pile of leaves and tips is then run through the food processor to chop fine. I add some olive oil to the chopped leaves and scoop it into a freezer bag. The 3 gallon bucket yielded a quart sized bag of basil about 1/4″ thick. This goes into the freezer and I pinch off what I need.