Friday, August 15, 2014

Friday Smiles 82: Harvest Day

It's time to join Annie once again at A Stitch In Time for Friday Smiles.  I bet you'll be glad when my garden is no longer active, because I'm once again there, this time

harvesting a few of my basil plants.  You can see I've allowed them to go too long.  Although I got only a tiny bit of my tomato plants in the photo, you can tell they are really prolific.  There are tomatoes everywhere on these vines.  And that in itself makes me smile.

It's time to dry the basil, and the best way I know is to place the cuttings in paper bags and close them.   I'm off to find some clips, and if I run out of bull dog clips, rubber bands will have to do.  Then I'll be round to see what Annie and everyone else is smiling about this Friday before the weekend.

18 thoughtful remarks:

Helen said...

That sounds a great way to dry basil - grocery stores here don't use paper bags (or most of them don't anyhow) so we rarely see them. You'll be pleased to see Annie's post today.

Mrs.D said...

Ah, paper bags, haven't seen those in years.
Your Basil looks wonderful, worthy of a smile.
Chris

Robyn Oliver said...

Happy Friday Smiles Elizabeth...oh wow you sure do have a fabulous vege garden - I'm envious!! The basil drying in the paper bags is a super idea...put that one in my memory bank. Cheers and have a lovely weekend...great news for Annie, Robyn

Judys Lace Creations said...

Nothing better than the aroma of basil. Great vegie garden.Hope you have a lovely sunny weekend.
Judy x

Hettie said...

You must have good green fingers if you can actually harvest basil. Mine doesn't get big enough for that. Love to see proper paper bags again...a rarity over here. In fact in Wales we no longer get carrier bags at all, unless we pay for them. Great idea though.
Hugs
xx

~*~Patty S said...

That is a very fine harvest you have there and loads of home grown tomatoes would make me smile too!
Happy Friday E...
oxo

Halle said...

My herbs are awful this year. I'm thinking next year I'll have to change the location. Yours are great!!

Krisha said...

Looks like a bountiful year for your garden.

My basil was doing great then we went away for a long weekend, it got HOT and when I got back my basil had died of heat stroke. That is one bad thing about having a garden in pots around here. I usually pull everything under the shade trees (but there are 7 very large pots), and just didn't get it done for that trip. I did water everything really good before we left.......but it just wasn't enough.

You tomato plant is promising quite a harvest this year. Do you can or freeze any of your harvest?

Darla said...

Looks great! Our one basil plant has pretty much been used as it grows. I wish we had prolific tomatoes, we have some but not a lot.

Darla

Divers and Sundry said...

I _love_ your garden pictures! I have no tomatoes this year and only mint, rosemary and german thyme for herbs, so don't you see I need your photos :)

505whimsygirl said...

Hi Elizabeth,

My basil plant looks like yours! Have you ever tried fresh basil and tomato sandwiches? They are heavenly!

Thanks for the tip on drying basil. I was thinking of freezing some for my smoothies.

So glad we are able to smile, especially on Fridays!

Hugs,
Kay

froebelsternchen said...

Believe it or not.. I can just smell all the herbs! Shall I dry my basil leaves now?? I have just one new plant of basil set in the garden since a few weeks.. maybe I shoul give it a try and dry the leaves..will google abot this...
thank you for the input!

I am such a bad gardener... oh my... have too learn so much!
xxx
Susi

Laura said...

The purple flowers are beautiful. Can you eat them too? As you can tell I don't have green fingers (unless I've been painting!) I planted some garlic chives but they didn't quite make it past the seedling stage!

Craftymoose Crafts said...

You must have esp my friend, because I was going to do a post 1)showing my pathetically small basil plant and 2)asking for suggestions on how to dry the not very large leaves. So, thanks!

Eliza said...

Such a brilliant garden and one you can eat, fresh basil and tomato sandwiches and fantastic but basil pest is also a delicacy, you should make some for winter to use on your pasta.

Thanks for sharing and have a beautiful sunny weekend.

Hugs Eliza & Yoda

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! This would make me smile too! I dry seed heads from pansies and candytuft in paper bags so they can pop out into the bag - only thing is they can make a bit of noise that makes me jump when it's quiet! Chrisx

mamapez5 said...

You can't beat home grown, especially tomatoes. I always grew my own in UK though I needed my greenhouse to ripen them. Out here I don't have plantable land, but everything in the market is so fresh, most of it was picked that morning, so it is nearly as good as your own. I like the drying basil. That sounds like a good idea. Kate x

Anonymous said...

I've always hung them, but never the paper bag method. Shall have to try that. xox