July in the garden was when I saw my tomatoes really get ripe! I had (barely) enough to make one of my favorite summer pasta salads (with some tweaks. I use fresh cherry or grape tomatoes, and lots of fresh basil, and no olives). The tomatoes have been so good—amazingly sweet and perfect.
Right now the tomatoes are struggling a bit. We’ve had a lot of rain and also my apartment complex (for some reason) has decided to turn on the sprinklers, so my tomatoes are getting lots more water than they need and that’s causing some problems. But I have four little green tomatoes on the vines right now, so I’ll get at least a few more this season.
The basil has done well, the mint has been OK—sort of straggly so I have to prune it back a fair bit. I had to really prune back the lavender, which did not do well with all the rain at all, but maybe it’ll revive with the pruning I’ve done. Growing lavender in a pot here is always a hit or miss proposition. It’s warm enough here for it to do well but it doesn’t like a lot of rain.
Next year I definitely want to get two tomato plants, two basil plants (two plants in one big pot), and possibly get a bigger pot for both the lavender and the mint, so they have more room to spread out. Growing the tomatoes has been really fun for me and I think with two plants I’ll get a more usable harvest, instead of having to wait to have barely enough for a meal. (Although don’t get me wrong, I love just eating them fresh off the vine!)
If you have good tips for storing/freezing/drying basil, please let me know. I don’t really like pesto so making it isn’t an option for me.
