Every year, by the time late summer comes around and the garden is pretty much done, I say “next year I’m just going to do a salsa garden: only things that will go in the makings of salsa!” The next year, I still plant things that I think we need. And the cycle continues; “next year…”
I did pair down a little. Spread out some of the plants and tried to only grow what I knew we would eat. One plant each (except tomatoes).
- 2 roma tomato plants: these have gone into making my salsa, and I have enough canned to last through the winter so that’s a success.
- 1 green pepper plant: we probably had 8 peppers off the plant, and used them in tacos, fajitas, etc.
- 1 okra plant (that didn’t live longer than a week): fail.
- 1 acorn squash plant: this has been a huge success! It takes about 45 minutes to bake the squash in an oven, but it’s so easy and delicious.
- 1 cilantro plant: since the cilantro produced before all my tomatoes, I cut the stems and put a bunch in water to keep for a few weeks; it worked and turned out great.
- 1 rosemary plant: I always think this is a good idea, then don’t know what to do with it! I’ve used it as a seasoning with chicken, or in marinara sauce, but this year I tried to freeze some and preserve for future use.
- 1 greek oregano plant: I haven’t used any fresh oregano this year. I did try to preserve it.
- 1 purple basil plant: The flavor seems a little sweeter than traditional basil, and it has been good on pizza or in sauce, but the little plant produced so much that I’ve been freezing leaves in olive oil to use for recipes.
I’ve never had huge luck with preserving fresh herbs so I’m a little skeptical on the freezing methods. I think it will be good for using in a sauce or slow cooker recipe. Any tips would be appreciated!
riveroakhome.com 