I. love. fresh. basil.
I use an Earth Box growing system for my basil "farm". An Earth Box is a self-contained "sealed" box on wheels that looks a lot like an oversized window flower box. It's great for anyone but especially folks who don't have access to farmable land, and truly, as a suburban dweller who knows there are tons of chemicals in my soil like 100 yr termite treatment, I don't consider my land worthy to grow edible items.
Don't have access to land at all but you have a deck or porch or stoop that has sun? You're in ... an Earth Box would be a perfect way for you to grow herbs etc.
Another benefit of an Earth Box is the movability. This past week we had strong pop-up storms. Heavy rain, strong winds. Lots of flowers and other delicate growing items were beat to the ground. Not my basil.
You see, I rolled the Earth Box from my deck into the covered screen porch during the storms. My basil just hung out waiting for the sun to return.
And while my basil was in the porch, this little hitch hiker emerged from the Earth Box and was trying to figure out what happened ... why he couldn't get out to the green grass or other that he liked hopping around. Felt sorry for him really. Don't worry, no tree frogs were hurt for this post :) He's returned to the great outdoors and still hangs out around the Earth Box.
So here's a pic of the basil crop as of June 1 {one of the days spent on the porch} ...
compared with the size of the basil just a few weeks earlier on May 12 ....
In an Earth Box my basil grows fast, big, and sweet!
We've reached the time on the calendar that I'm harvesting at least a cup of basil every other day. And that amount will increase exponentially soon.
At least with herbs you'd still have time to plant and reap the rewards of your crop if you use an Earth Box. After our fire two years ago I had to replant my basil in mid-July; by early mid-August I had my second bumper crop of basil that season.
Want to know more about the Earth Box? Here are my posts from last year:
So what's your favorite fresh garden eats? Got any recipes to share?
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