I still can’t believe I kept the basil and parsley going all summer. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. The pots of basil are still limping along in the greenhouse but I don’t think they’re going to be producing much with the short days and colder temps. The parsley may keep growing. It should be fine down to 10 degrees and it shouldn’t get that cold in the greenhouse.
It actually takes a lot of product to fill these half gallon jars with parsley and basil. I had to do a bit of mashing to get it all in there. That basil is so nice to have during the winter. I love basil!
I went ahead and cut the last of the lavender blossoms and freeze dried those too. The jar on the right above is one with purchased dried lavender. The small jar on the left is what I freeze dried from my plants.
With both basil and lavender in the freeze dryer, the water that defrosted out of the freeze dryer smelled so good!!
Amy says
What will you use the lavender for? I am allergic to the smell but just curious.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I love to add a small sachet of lavender to the dryer when drying our sheets. I use it to make lavender infused oil which is good for my hair and skin. This particular variety is my favorite for culinary uses and I like to sprinkle just a tad on top of warm tea cakes or in yogurt with fruit. I can also add it to sugar, store it in a jar, shake it frequently and have lavender infused sugar for sprinkling on top of cookies. I could never grow as much lavender as I use throughout the year. In fact, this is the first year in many years that I’ve grown enough to harvest and freeze dry. I ended up with a little over two pints of dried blossoms this year.