Gardening Archives - Page 9 of 28 - Garden Seeds and Honey Bees

We had a bunch of Basil growing in our Aero Garden and in a pot outside. We needed to get it used before it all flowered. We decided to make some Pesto so that we could freeze it and be able to use it during the winter months. Give it a try you will be glad you did!!!

Freezing Fresh Pesto

* 8 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
* 1-2 cups Light Olive Oil
* 8 or more Cloves of Garlic
* 2 Lemons Juiced or about 5 tablespoons (6 tablespoons tasted like to much lemon.)
* 3/4 cup Almonds or Pine Nuts.

** 2 cups of Grated Parmesan Cheese

If you are going to use almonds toast them in cast iron pan just until you can smell them.

Pulse in a food Processor the above ingredients and adding the Olive Oil a little at a time until desired texture.

Add **2 cups of Grated Parmesan Cheese; blend in just until you still have small pieces.

Pour Pesto into ice cube trays and cover with Saran Wrap and freeze, then when frozen remove from freezer and empty the frozen Pesto Cubes into a labeled gallon sized Ziploc Freezer Bag.

Recipe adapted from here.

Have a great day!

Lindy and Jessica

Storing Potatoes

Gunny Sacks are good sacks to use when storing your potatoes and then place them in a cool dry place like the garage or unheated room in the basement.

*I made these gunny sacks out of burlap, I used about a yard for each sack and some jute for the draw string.

Note: I like to dig up my potatoes when the temperature is about 70 degrees outside and I also planted my potatoes in the middle of May.

*Dig up Potatoes, making sure the soil is fairly dry:

Using a pitch fork I make a circle around the Potato Plant about 10 inches away from the growing/wilting plant and put the pitch fork straight down and then lift up towards the Potato Plant until I have a pile of potatoes, soil and plant in the middle of my circle and hopefully you won’t dig into too many potatoes. This way of digging up potatoes has worked the best for me.

*Drying Potatoes before storing:

Using a wheel barrow to put your freshly dug potatoes in or what I like to do since my garden is right next to grass I use a tarp. I then put all my unwashed potatoes onto the tarp and drag potatoes and place them under my covered patio making sure there is a buffer between the tarp of potatoes and the cement. I have a rug that I put the tarp of potatoes on, let them dry there for a few days. Then, I will rub off all the clumps of dirt and put them in a gunny sacks to store in my cold storage room in the basement on layered card board flat boxes.

Note: Make sure not to store them with Apples nearby because the Potatoes will not store as long.

If you would like more information on potatoes see here