Basil

Last year I grew some Thai basil, somehow the small pot of seeds turned into a fully fledged basil plant which is still alive today...just...the stems are more wooden sticks and most of the leaves are brown and crispy. So about 3 weeks ago I decided to sow a new fresh pot of Thai basil with the intention of actually eating all of it and replacing it will fresh sowings throughout the year - we will see. For those of you who don't know Thai basil it is like basil but with pointed leaves instead of round ones, purple flowers and stems and a wonderful anise flavour which is used in loads of Thai dishes. I add it to Thai green curry but it is also great with fish and other meats.

However, although Thai basil is fantastic for Thai cooking it doesn't quite work in Spanish dishes so this year I have been super organised and bought some Mediterranean basil as well, this is the more common round leaved basil which has a sweet taste perfect for pasta, pesto and of course Spanish omelettes.

The photo at the top shows the seeds as they are today, I sowed them about 3 weeks ago in those pots and placed them on a windowsill over a radiator with a clear plastic bag over the top until the germinated. Once they were growing well the bag was removed and the pots turned to stop them going wonky, today both pots have graduated to the unheated kitchen windowsill where they will now stay until they are big enough to eat. If all goes to plan I will be making a repeat sowing in a couple of weeks to hopefully give a continuous crop throughout the year.