I murdered my basil plant. I don’t know how I did it, but I’m guilty.
The saga of the basil plant began a month ago as I was entering Trader Joe’s. I noticed basil plants for sale. I admired their deep green leaves. I inhaled deeply and was hooked on their beautiful basil scent.
I immediately fantasized homemade pesto hugging pasta and caressing my tongue and igniting my senses. It was a perfect aah moment.
Delirious with basil desire I immediately placed a basil plant in my cart.
Up and down the aisles I went buying food that would be best served with the addition of basil, the very same basil I would harvest from my own basil plant.
I tend to think big and my thoughts of basil were no exception. By the time I got home I decided I would grow lots and lots of basil in my apartment and make lots and lots of pesto and give all my friends personally prepared pesto for birthday and holiday gifts.
Just one thing… I didn’t know anything about raising basil.
The first few days I plucked basil leaves with sheer abandon and enjoyed a daily dose of basil. Each meal was complimented with a bit of basil whether it was cooked with the food, added fresh to a salad, or laid lovingly over sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil.
Almost immediately I began to notice the leaves turning a lighter green. The scent and flavor weren’t as robust. The leaves hung somewhat limp and looked ready to fall from the stem. The few new leaves were small and refused to grow properly.
Was it too much watering? Not enough watering? Too much sunlight? Too little sunlight? Was I not giving my plant enough love?
Or did my basil plant just hate me and decide it was better to die than to be in my life?
It might be that I was suffering from too much basil consumption and ate more than my plant could provide, and because of my greedy behavior the little basil plant’s heart just gave out.
And so today I have declared my big basil idea kaput. No perfect pesto gifts from my homegrown basil for birthdays or holidays.
I’m certain there’ll be another big idea soon.
And I feel one coming… and I think its gonna be big… knitting… long beautiful bright red scarves… and scarves make beautiful birthday and holiday gifts…
I’m certain I can find a few how-to-knit video lessons on You Tube.
Big.
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