Thursday, July 16, 2015

Foliage Follow-up in the veggie garden...

I love basil, love it! Can't grow enough of it. I've tried purple basil from seed before, with limited success. This year I spotted some tiny starts in the veggie section of the supermarket nursery. Score!

Regular large leaf Italian basil looks even better growing next to those dark leaves.

The tiny outline of green makes the plants almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

The basil is sharing space with cucumber vines, another veggie foliage fav. Up until the point they start to get all mildewy, which thankfully hasen't happened yet.

Raspberry foliage, from a dwarf BrazelBerries® Raspberry Shortcake™ plant that I was doubtful would be worth the price required by the ® and the ™ ... but it really is! It's stayed compact and been loaded with tasty berries for months.

Ginger mint, growing up around an Agave.

Its blooms have always been hugely attractive to the pollinators. So much so that I've never worried about having flowers near my tomatoes, the mint brings them in by the dozens.

However this year something is different, my tomatoes are all foliage and flowers with very little fruit. Not knowing exactly what the problem is I decided to try the "more flowers" to attract more pollinators route. I bought a Mina lobata ("Exotic Love Vine") thinking it's cool flowers would look great growing up through the tomato plants. The joke is on me though because thus far it too is all foliage and no flowers. Is this some sort of cosmic justice to my placing so much importance on the foliage in my garden?

At least the foliage is fabulous, and it's making nice with the Agave.

And the purple basil! Foliage Follow-up is hosted by Pam, at Digging. It's always the day after Bloomday. A moment to stop and savor the foliage, maybe even in the veggie garden!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

20 comments:

  1. Basil is one of those herbs that I think I'll want a hundred plants of each year, and I end up using five. Your purple is so nice with the green margin though!

    I've thought about BrazelBerries® Raspberry Shortcake™ too -- maybe I should see if anybody has it on mid-season sale yet. Glad you mentioned it!

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    1. A hundred sounds about right! I finally took the Brazelberry plunge when I found one for $10 less than they were going for last year. Hope you can find a sale!

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  2. That basil has great foliage! I used to grow basil in my sunny garden at the old house. Now, because I have limited sun, we have a vegetable share, and they provide basil occasionally. The smell is wonderful and the taste is fabulous. I like the way your Mina lobata is wending its way through your garden. I will have to research that one. ;-)

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    1. I've almost purchased the Mina lobata of Annie's Annuals website a few times, I was thrilled to find it locally this year.

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  3. The mina won't bloom until the fall, I think flowering is regulated by days shortening to a certain length. Once it starts though, it's spectacular. Sue

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    1. What!? Oh man, that sucks. I guess when Annie wrote "blooms go on for months" it was a particularly Bay Area-centric remark?

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  4. That basil is fantastic! I don't think I've ever seen a purple one with a green edge like that. Beautiful! I have three kinds of basil in my garden this year, but they're all green. I need to give ginger mint a sniff next time I see it at a nursery. Sounds intriguing. I never have trouble attracting pollinators in my garden because I have so much natural vegetation around, but this year I tried a tomatillo for the first time and the bees are all over it! It's the most popular plant in the veggie garden.

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    1. Fred Meyer had a few of that basil this year, I was thrilled. I can give you a start of the ginger mint if you're interested.

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  5. The fact that your supermarket carries basil plant starts defines the essence of the difference between LA and Portland. I'm glad the raspberry has done well for you - sadly, it didn't like life in SoCal.

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    1. Well it is one of those "everything" stores (socks, TV's and eggs) but they do have a pretty decent nursery.

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  6. I love that purple basil, too. Love it! The one I'm completely smitten with, I never found this year. :( I don't recall the name, but the leaves are variegated and it gets about three feet tall. Awesome plant. Next year.....

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    1. Variegated? I'll be watching for it too.

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  7. Never mind the lack of flowers, foliage more important :) although saying that I quite fancy some tomato and basil now, with mozzarella and olive oil....

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    1. Yum! That's the taste of summer right there.

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  8. Wow, I have never seen a purple basil with green edged leaves. Very striking. I am growing a basil with plain purple leaves for the first time this year. It stands up much better to all the moisture and the cool days than the sweet green basil.

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  9. Glad to hear there is actually some truth to the BrazelBerry hype - I have been wondering... That dainty green edge on the dark basil is scrumptious!

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  10. The dark basil would be worth growing for aesthetic reasons alone. Does it taste just like its green brethren? I like African Blue for the texture and a less licoricey taste.

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  11. That purple basil is handsome and almost too pretty to eat. Almost. Love vine, as I recall, blooms in late summer/fall here in Austin. Do you think yours is still waiting for the first whiff of fall?

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