What do you do with Basil at the end of the growing season?

I grow a lot of basil. In theory if you tuck it in with your delectable plant, it confuses pests. I have found this not to be true but I do it anyway. I just have basil growing everywhere.
Unfortunately, it is tender so when it gets cold, it dies. There's nothing like fresh basil. I keep a couple pots indoor through the winter though my success with that is still iffy. What I have done and found very worthwhile is freezing basil in ice cubes.

This series of photos shows the process, 1st, some cinnamon basil insitu. Cinnamon basil is not my favorite. I get annoyed by it because it resembles Thai Basil, and tastes similar, but not quite as good to me. I think it grows better in my climate too.

So here we have my ice cube tray, a fancy one I got at
Bed Bath & Beyond. Browsing their site, I do not see what I got. These cubes are slightly larger than most and make a very square cube. It's also that nice squishy silicone so it's easy to get the cubes out.

You'll notice that I just jammed as much basil as I could in each cube. I'm not tidy by nature and here it doesn't matter.
Once they are frozen, you just pop them out and put them in a plastic bag or something. If you are like me and have several varieties, you might wanna label the bag.

Hmm, below, there is some lemon basil, one of my favorites, tucked in with some random plants, like thyme and butterfly bush. This one I let got to seed. I don't just use the leaves, I throw in the flower buds and flowers themselves. The only part of the basil I don't use are the roots and the stem.

So the ice cube let's you use a measured amount of basil, for these cubes I think I managed to stuff about 2 teaspoon per cube, but I didn't measure. When I use the cubes, I generally add it to whatever I am cooking right at the very end. I just let it thaw out and get warm. Otherwise, it's almost the same as using dry.

You may do this with whatever other herbs suit your fancy. It's very nice with tarragon. Some folks make a mix, say something that would be perfect for seasoning chicken soup.

Anyway good luck!

I love my tarp

I guess I am allowed to only upload 4 photos at a time. Well gee.
OK, I love my tarp. If you are reading this you probably haven't read my 1st post about my wonderful supertarp.

I took all these pictures just to show how wonderful it is.

Here I have a few wheelbarrows shy of a yard of compost in my bed and you can see how the tarp works.

This next 2 pictures(above) show how I attached a carabiner type rings to my tarp, actually a bunch of them, which I use in conjunction with bungee cords and other things to keep things the way I want them. They let me quickly attach and detach things.

Next we have my wheelbarrow sitting on a smaller, cheaper tarp. This lets me toss my stuff faster and sloppier. Hmm, how many readers have I lost with this post?

Anyway this compost here is a must for gardens. You can either make your own by collecting various biodegradable things, or get it elsewhere. I explain below how more or less, commercial compost humus is made and how I arrange my tarp when getting a load. I decided yesterday that I might get a second tarp, about 6X6 to rest on my cab and slightly overlap the main tarp. I may or may not want another bungee to secure that one. I dunno, you can never have enough bungee cords or tarps. They all wear out eventually so I generally keep well stocked.

picture

here's looking at you cat. wtf?hhhello??? where's the picture?
thanks todd!
now may I add an image of my lemongrass from june? why is there an add image button that does nothing?