Of everything I planted this summer, the thing I had the fewest expectations for was the basil. It was pretty much an afterthought; it wasn’t on my list when I visited the garden centers to pick out the flowers and vegetables I would plant.

Rather, it was only when I was looking at the tomato plants that I caught a whiff of the sweet basil and thought “That smell would be nice in my garden.” I had zero experience with basil, really almost no experience with herbs at all. Sure, I had grown dill in my Wisconsin garden. I don’t really count that though. Dill is easy-peasy. Sow a few seeds and you have it for life. Sometimes you have to actually work to get rid of it.

Regardless, I bought some basil and a small chives plant and planted the two on the outside edge of my raised beds. No real expectations. If they grew, great. If not, no big loss. Maybe I should have approached the veggies I really wanted to grow that way! More than once during the summer I expected the basil to stop producing. Especially during the hottest portions of August, when the chives finally gave out. Not so the basil. It would start flowering, I would cut off the flowers, and it would just keep growing. 

In fact, it’s still producing. Every 10-14 days, I cut off a bunch of leaves for use in my kitchen or the kitchens of my co-workers. Every 10-14 days, I wonder if  that time will be the last time I get a bagful of the aromatic leaves.

It’s almost Oct. 1 and although the basil (top photo) doesn’t quite look as robust and green as earlier in the summer (other photos in this post), it still appears to be going strong.

Fresh basil is wonderful in cooking. In other words, it can produce as long as it wants!