I wish I could create Instagram posts with “smell o vision”, because this fragrant herb is Cinnamon Basil (Ocimum basilicum).
The Cinnamon Basil is the same species as normal Italian Basil but the scent is more like a rich floral and spicy perfume than mere cinnamon. Among its bouquet of secondary metabolites is methyl cinnamate, the same naturally occurring chemical that gives cinnamon its distinctive flavour. The cinnamon basil originated in Mexico and is used in both sweet and savoury dishes.
I grew this unusual herb from seed here in the UK and it is flourishing in the greenhouse. The plant is reported to repel white fly although this has not been thoroughly researched yet.
[Thai basil, fresh cilantro, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, and hoisin. Give these guys some of our braising liquid. He was tired of seeing his family only in dreams. ♪♪]
Today was the first real harvest! We had tomatoes, and bell peppers, and habaneros and jalepenos! And basil and marigold and purple globe amaranth.
The basil, marigolds, and globe amaranth I set out to dry. It'll be ready to jar in maybe a month or two. I'm pretty excited about this! I need to harvest some sage.
Kitbo came home today. I am both grateful and very sad. His little pawprint is so precious.
I few days ago I found those beautiful pots on clearance for $10 each. I went out to find some plants that might look good in the pots... Today I found two black eyed susans for those pots. I also found a thai basil plant. It smells like licorice! I love it! I also found a beautiful white and pink Mexican Rose and a flame Ice Plant for the pot hanging above the bird bath garden. The celiosa seem to be doing much better in the ground than in that pot.
I also bottled up some herbs I had harvested a while back. Rose, Rue, Marigolds, Citronella, and Mugwort. Boo was escorted out of the area as I did not need help (and honestly I didn't want him to get sick from eating something). We will not be using these for eating....these are for offerings and ritual/cleansing herbs.
Behold, The Eye! This little volunteer cantaloupe dropped off the vine so it is as mature as it ever will be:
Friday’s gardening task was to transfer the dirt from here:
To here. We’re going to transplant some cabbage starts that we propagated from the leftover stub of a store-bought cabbage:
Today’s backyard garden harvest:
Seen while walking at Sea Isle Park:
This little park near the house is a gem - 1 mile walking trail, 18-hole frisbee golf course, dog park, playground & it is a certified arboretum:
This is the trail that runs through the stand of trees in the previous photo:
A squad of frisbee golfers took this short cut with their kids in tow. They were 1 or 2 decades my junior but they were mostly dark haired guys with beards so I wasn’t surprised when one of their kids kept walking beside me humming “Head like a hole” after the rest of the party turned up that trail. I looked down at her, smiled & said “No, honey. They’re headed up that way.” The last two golfers in the procession laughed as she hurried to catch up with them:
Children’s chalk art. There was a lot of it on this stretch of the walking path since it runs right by an elementary school. This bit looked the coolest to me - a girl & an Impostor from Among Us:
In order of appearance (how do you put text INTO the video 😭):
Fig
Polarberry (it's supposed to be a thornless, pale colored blackberry but it is actually A LIE this mfer is Covered in thorns and has nary a berry in sight after two years of living with me. Fuck him!)
Lavender (grown from seed my high school mate gave me in a seed exchange!)
Alpine mignonette strawberries (grown from seed I bought 2 years ago. Yeah she a pandemic baby and I love her I do 🥺)
Sage! Grown from seed since 2017!
Low tin planter 1: more alpine mignonette strawberries, these ones are earmarked for @farfrompleasant and Freyja I honestly will mail this whole box to ya house when you move
2: rando tomatoes I found w genovese basil (think these seeds failed, which is kinda rude for year two for an annual type 😕)
3: a mistake of an over-planting of epazote... I can't really defend myself here, twas a boo-boo
4: more mystery tomato volunteers with Thai basil (these seeds were great, from the Asian supermarket, top notch germination rate 👍)
5: all stars strawberries, I bought these bare root shoots in 2020 and I mean they're fine but considering how easy the AM strawberries were to grow from seed I regret spending the money on starts 😒
[The fortified mayo with a little bit extra of the spice. When you bring in Thai basil and the mint, that really hammers it home. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! Delicious.]
On both the 'Malinowy Ożarowski' plants, as it turns out. I spotted a cluster forming yesterday on the first plant that went out, but figured the second one would be a little slower to get blooming because it did get transplanted in later and hasn't had a chance to grow nearly as much yet. But, I saw today that it also has some starting up.
Yeah, the bigger one is sort of leggy so far. I think the lack of wind is making it look spindlier, besides probably benefiting from a bit more sun. Still barely getting used to growing things out in my new playroom! 😅 Going to have to get staking soon, but not this evening.
Partly because I've been pretty busy out there otherwise!
Yep, I finally said fuck it and finished getting everything topped up with soil, so I could go ahead and get the teensy marigold seedlings and basil seeds into those containers too. 😁 Still needed to here, but everything is duly watered in now.
I made an executive decision and went with three clusters of three basil seeds in each planter, spaced in between the marigolds. The currenly-taller tomato pot got two clusters of 'Siam Queen' seeds, and one of the mixed sweet basil varieties. The other two planters got all mixed sweet, because I figured we would probably use more Mediterranean type than Thai basil. Those seedlings can get shuffled around later, as required--including into other pots if necessary. Also more than enough seeds left to reseed later on as needed.
The 'Maskota' cherry tomato pot, on the other end. Spacing around the edges got trickier in there, with the two little plants already in there well off center. But again, things can get moved around later if needed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Those plants really are looking tiny compared to the others, but they do seem happy enough so far. No blooms trying to form yet that I could see, but hopefully before long.