Spinach, basal and basil

The garden is going like gang busters (what the heck does that mean anyway?). The corn has grown well above the 6 foot fence I share with my neighbor, the broccoli has spread out to the point that it is over shadowing the cabbage and the beans. Our cucumbers are producing like a house-a-fire (yet another strange saying). I put up three quarts of pickles this weekend. I haven’t made pickles in 25 years!!! All the tomato plants are covered with fruit; in fact we have already picked a few ripe ones. And the pumpkin plant is huge, massive, gargantuan!!

One of our greatest successes is our spinach. We bought a little six-pack of tiny starters and they have really taken off. The problem is that it turns out that it isn’t really spinach. It took a while to figure out that what we really have is boat load of basil! It reminded me the scene in Secondhand Lions when it dawns on them that their massive garden is actually filled with nothing but corn. Like them, we’ve decided to just go with it. In fact, this morning I brought a bunch of little baggies filled with fresh basil into work, left them in the kitchen and sent out an email to let anyone know it was there for the taking. I went to a meeting and when I came back, it was all gone. Yippee!!

I’ve also collected several good pesto recipes from co-workers. I’m really excited to try them out. I love pesto and had forgotten it was made with basil.

This whole incident has also improved my spelling. When I sent the email out I said “basal” because that is what spell check gave me. It didn’t look right but neither did anything else I could think of. A few people have sent me emails with the correct spelling and at least one person left me a post-it note. Gees, it’s not like they didn’t know what I was talking about! They obviously didn’t think I was hawking poison in a baggie.