Our vegetable garden this year is very different from last year. We had a lot of cherry tomatoes last year from seeds that sprouted up in compost I used. There are not many of them this year as I’ve pulled the sprouts out early before my guilt set in. I just can’t bring myself to demolish a perfectly good plant. I didn’t expect the uneven weather we’ve had that caused a lot of the tomato flowers to drop and the fruits to grow very slowly. Beans, Kale, Broccoli and Swiss Chard are doing well though. I can’t pick them fast enough.
August is here and the temperature dropping close to 50°F for a few nights has not helped either. What happened to summer? I’m debating whether I should sow winter vegetables now or wait until mid-September as usual.
The Swiss Chard is doing fine this summerI have no idea how this Morning glory got here but I let it grow since the flowers are so beautiful. The Bitter melon doesn’t seem to mind sharing space on the fence either.Winged beans in the foreground are just starting to flower. The Italian and Asian long beans in the background have been producing a lot of beans this season.The lush Red Asian Long beans and Italian beans are growing faster than I can harvest.Sad looking tomatoes. I had to cut most of their leaves off when black spots started to grow after raining continuously for a few days.Holy basil are doing fine amongst the Kale, Dill and Genoese basil.
This entry stemmed from a conversation I had with a fellow commuter a month ago. She marveled at the variety of basil I had in my bag which looked and smelled different from one another. She confessed that she didn’t know there were that many types of basil.
I grew up with four different types of basil: Holy basil (both purple and white), Lemon basil, Thai Basil and Wild basil. Each of these have a specific use in cooking since they smell and taste differently. This year I grew only four types: Holy basil, Lemon basil, Thai basil and Italian basil. The Purple and Greek basil seedlings were eaten by slugs early in the season and I didn’t feel like starting them all over again. Four different ones should be enough for this year considering the vegetable garden was taken over by cherry tomatoes.
Holy Basil, the spiciest one
Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) is a little bit picky with its surrounding. If the weather is not warm enough, it refuses to sprout. If it doesn’t get enough sun or too much water, it will develop black spots, drop its leaves or rot from the root up. Why should I grow it then? No other basil can replace it when it comes to stir-fry chicken with chili pepper and basil. I have tried to replace it with Italian basil since it’s more common in the supermarket in the middle of winter. It’s passable, but not the same. It’s also great in steaming seafood, used in combination with Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime.
Holy Basil is the most aromatic and spicy of all basil, but has the thinnest leaf. It has very thin and hairy leaves with purple stems. Aside from cooking, it also has medicinal benefits. Tea made from its leaves (fresh or dry) helps to reduce indigestion and bloating. Crushed leaves can be used as a mosquito repellant when applied to your skin. One of my acquaintances, originally from India, mentioned to me recently that chewing three to four leaves when you feel you might have a cold will help prevent it. Learn something new every day.
