Menu

Outside my door. . .

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Lemon basil. It’s taking over! I planted one last year. Note: I didn’t re-plant this year. But I woke up one morning and all these little lemon basil plants had taken over. I imagine by next year I will have an entire garden full of lemon basil.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Genovese basil. One tiny little genovese basil plant that self-seeded from last year, trying to make it’s way into the world. Aww, it’s cute.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

A few weeks later… I’m happy to report that this little guy is growing! I think he’s gonna make it!

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Sweet basil. It’s thriving. I just want to sit outside and smell sweet, fresh basil all day. If they could bottle this stuff I’d wear it as a perfume. And I’d need it if I were sitting outside in 90 degree weather all day. Have I told you about my odd fascination with smelling like food? More on that later.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Thai basil. My newest obsession. It’s incredible. And I have three plants of it. I am already planning the homemade thai basil pasta. :D

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Thai basil has gorgeous purple-black blooms. But I have to keep them clipped if I want the leaves to keep producing.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Turning into delicious orange and red bell peppers. Hurry up little fellas!

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

These guys haven’t quite made it yet.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Zucchini. This is my favorite zucchini application, and it’s so easy: Take a zucchini, a red bell pepper, a red onion, and dice, then add a cup of frozen corn kernals. Toss with just enough olive oil to coat, plenty of kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, and a minced clove of garlic. Roast at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins. A delicious, quick & easy, fresh & flavorful, and colorful side dish that goes with *everything*. I usually keep everything diced, frozen, and waiting in my freezer, just ready to be pulled out and turned into a delicious dish on a moment’s notice.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Green onions. I love green onions. I got a whole handful of green onion seed packets at the feed store for free earlier this year. They were two years old, and they were just giving ’em away, and I didn’t expect them to do anything. I basically just threw them on the ground, tossed on some top soil, and hoped for the best. And much to my surprise… they grew! … a lot!

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

Garlic chives. These would be perfect in this. Or on this. <<< BTW, have you tried that one yet? Oh-man it’s so good. Scratch my dinner plans. I making that with mashed potatoes and the sweet roasted vegetables mentioned above tonight.

Vegetable & Herb Gardening

French thyme. I’m diggin’ in. I grew English thyme last year and I have to say I’m really liking this French thyme. See the lemon basil in the background? There it is, tryin’ to take over again!

***

Thanks for looking! :)

You May Also Like:

49 Responses
  1. Nicole

    Beautiful garden! Thanks so much for sharing. I also like growing herbs however they don’t seem to like me back. I like to blame it on the tropical weather in the Philippines. But I’m not going to stop trying yet.

    I hope I can be as successful as you in the garden dept. :)

  2. Nicole

    Hi Amanda, can i get you surname? I will be using your photo in my term paper about herbs- lemon basil. I want to site your photo properly. Thank you. :)

  3. Annie

    Hi Amanda, can i get you surname? I will be using your photo in term paper about herbs- lemon basil. I want to site it properly. Thank you. :)

    1. Sara

      I love all the things you have in your garden. I love to garden, but my stuff tends to not make it. What’s your secret? How do you keep it so clean and open so they can grow? I would love to find some new techniques so I can produce some goodies in my garden!

  4. Courtney McCallum

    I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog, and I love getting new emails from you and Kevin. Whether it be pictures of Miley and Howie, or some great tips about scarves; I cannot wait for one to arrive in my inbox! And I’m only 18! I’ll be off to college soon, but I just wanted to let you know that you are who I inspire to be when I eventually get older,get married, and start my own family! You are an amazing woman who happens to have a great sense of smell, taste, and awesome fashion sense! Even though I’m freshly 18, I just wanted you to realize how much of a wide-span audience you really have! Thanks!

  5. Jenn Erickson/Rook No. 17

    I’m jealous! We finally had some time this summer to put some planter boxes in the yard, but they’re still empty. Your herbs and veggies are beautiful and so healthy! Oh the cooking possibilities! Thyme and basil are my favorites to cook with. Thyme is amazing in homemade pasta and potato salads!

  6. Bec

    You should give Lemon Thyme a try. It is gorgeous as well as tasty with chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it just plain smells good.

    1. angelamhiere

      ooops! i got so giddy, i posted this reply on the wrong page… but i also adore the plants… i wanted to have a garden but there’s no space… =(

  7. Jill Cooper

    Have you tried eating bee balm flowers? Oh my gosh! They are simply incredible. My daughter and her husband are backyard farmers who sell at a market every week. They also hold wild edibles classes/walks and usually every week at market sell a wild salad mixture. They just left from having dinner here tonight and on the way out said – you need to pick those bee balm flowers (they are almost all drying out but had a few bright red long petals left) and taste them. Now understand she’s always getting me to taste something or other and not everything is wonderful to my tongue anyway. But I put one of the bee balm petals on my tongue and it just popped with flavors that I can’t even describe. A little sweetness, a little fruitiness (if that’s even a word), and wonderful. I have a wee little handful for my salad tomorrow and am going to plant some more bee balm and see if I can get it to bloom before winter. The ones I have wintered over beautifully and really spread. But I didn’t know about eating the petals until tonight. Anyway – try planting some – really pretty too!

  8. Brittany@twocrazycupcakes

    Amanda…I LOVE your blog! You have helped me so much with blog design tips and you are an all around awesome gal! You’re awesome too Kevin ;)I just gave you an award! Please come pick it up!

  9. Sarah

    Amanda,

    You mentioned that if you could bottle that Sweet Basil smell you would wear it as perfume? Well, speaking of great ‘herbal’ smell, do you know that Bath & Body Works has a Cool Citrus Basil scent? It is soooo wonderful! And I discovered a new shampoo that smells heavenly–it is Rosemary Mint Shampoo by Suave! I couldn’t believe how great it smelled and it’s good for my hair, too, which is great because usually most Suave products smell pretty good but are awful on hair. Thought I’d pass that along to you and your garden looks great! Much better than mine, lol!

  10. Jami

    These are all so beautiful. How do you use them? Do you just pick one to sub into a recipe that calls for basil? I am really interested in the thai basil and the lemon basil. I’d like to grow them both!

  11. Mary Colovich

    Hi Amanda…I followed your tutorial on how to use cute font for blog posts/sidebar and I couldn’t get it to work. BUT, I think it’s because when I clicked on your ‘blogger-sifr.js’ I got a message saying it was not a valid link. So I clicked on mine and got the same message. Any suggestions? (I followed your tutorial from your blog post). Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!
    ~Mary
    CuonTV1@hotmail.com

  12. Mary Colovich

    Hi Amanda…I followed your tutorial on how to use cute font for blog posts/sidebar and I couldn’t get it to work. BUT, I think it’s because when I clicked on your ‘blogger-sifr

  13. Janeybird

    Thanks for sharing, Amanda! I’m always inspired to plant or cook or paint or create something when I read your blog! :)

  14. Stephanie

    Your garden and herbs are coming along very well. Great year for a garden. I made some awesome pesto the other night from our basil and parsley! Keep up the good work!

  15. Tracy

    I love seeing the herb photos!!

    I need a font fix!! How about Fonts for the Fourth!? :) Even if it’s just FOUR!? :o)

  16. Crystal

    I love your pictures. Your blog is always so inviting. I’ve always been a little confused about herbs. What do I put them in? What recipes work best with what flavors? But I have recently started trying different herbs. It’s amazing what flavor they can add. Thanks for all the great pics!

  17. Becky

    How pretty is your garden. My hubby put out a garden of corn, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and potatoes. It isn’t ready to eat yet but I couldn’t resist the small green pepper I seen. Sooo I went out while he was at work and stole a green pepper. LOL. He hasn’t missed it yet. I sliced it thinly and fried it in spray butter Pam with a thinly sliced onion then put it over my Crockpot Italian chicken with cooked potatoes and carrots. Boy that was good. I was very inspired by all your herbs you put out last year that I put an oregano plant in a pot to grow this year but wished now I had planted more herbs because I’m really enjoying the one I bought. I seen so many different varieties and was overwhelmed with deciding what to buy so I just bought one.

  18. Emily @ Finding My Aloha

    I loooove basil? Have you ever heard of lime basil? If not try to find some. It’s the most refreshing thing! Would be EXCELLENT muddled in a mojito! :)

  19. ISA N

    you have a beautiful herb garden. i also grow herbs and i have Thai Basil and it is really beautiful.
    Keep growing and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  20. Toni Legates

    Lovey photos Amanda, your baby zuccs are looking happy . If you ever get in a bind for recipe ideas Hit me up via facebook . I enjoy your post very much especially the photos of your dogs. Thanks so much .

  21. Amanda Sevall

    Your garden looks so pretty and yummy… makes me wish I had one already!! We still have a ways to go until we are ready to plant one…. *sigh* :)

  22. amy g.

    I LOOOOOVE the smell of basil, too. I use the Cool Citrus Basil body spray from Bath and body Works all the time. It smells so clean and fresh. Love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

  23. Polly

    Amanda, Did you know you can eat the blossoms of your zucchini plant. Just batter and deep fry. I haven’t tried it but I understand they are quite tasty.

  24. Kelly @ Dare to be Domestic

    OK that side dish sounded so good I’m drooling a little bit. Your basil plants are amazing! I want to plan a herb garden next year. We did planters this year and they are thriving. I hope our week away on vacation doesn’t hurt our plants we don’t have someone coming to water them, only to check on the cat every other day.

    I bet that lemon basil smells fantastic – I’ve smelled lemon thyme but never basil.

  25. Ann

    I absolutely love lemon basil. You can send me some since is it taking over (hard to grow outside here…we are at an elevation of 7000′)…not warm enough or something have tried it outside with limited success. Your photographs are wonderful.

  26. Sarah

    These are great macro shots! What lens did you use? Oh, and I personally really like when you mention what lens(es) you use ;)

  27. Sarah

    Yes, I did lemon basil once too and it totally took over the garden. But where it was- I didn’t mind, it was a pretty filler. I love the scent. :)

  28. Jackie

    Have you tried the FRESH LIME BASIL soap from bath and body works? It is divine. I could smell limes and basil all day long, and this soap is lovely.

    EXCEPT…it was discontinued. So you would have to find some on ebay. But it’s worth it.

    Also, Jo Malone makes a Lime Basil Mandarin cologne that I haven’t smelled, but am picking some up.

    I must have a smelling like food obsession too.

  29. Julie Bogart

    Watch out for that lemon basil. It will overtake your entire yard. I have been trying to kill mine for three years. I love basil, but not that much basil!

  30. Judy

    Love your garden! Can we see pics of the whole thing? I just potted some herbs, and depending how that goes will determine how much more I grow. :0) I’m inspired by your pictures!

Do you have a question or comment?

Meet Kevin & Amanda

Kevin and Amanda

We love to travel and to eat! Here we share our favorite quick and easy recipes, plus travel tips and guides for our favorite places around the world. If you have any questions about what camera I use or how I edit my photos, check out my photography tutorials.

READ MORE

Subscribe via Email: