The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

[Deleted User]

We grew basil really well in Hampshire in the polytunnel, it got more than 3ft high and bushed into sizeable plants, I made pesto by the gallon, we ate it right through the summer in pasta dishes and I was able to keep my neighbours mum who was Italian and in her 80s supplied with carrier bags full of it...she loved it and always came round with tasters of anything new she'd made so we could try them.  Sadly up here and with no polytunnel (YET! I'm working on that one) it just doesn't 'do' and isn't worth growing but OH tries every year and we have some tiny plantlets in the greenhouse and in the garden...hope, unlike Basil, springs eternal!

Floss

@boazu I'm surprised you can't get basil growing in a greenhouse, I always had several plants going in the glass greenhouse, right into the autumn. Is borage that funny tasting blue flower in Pimms?

greenbee

@Floss - I had a very successful basil factory last year. Started it on the windowsill, and grew most of it in pots outside. I have borage growing everywhere. Particularly in the drive. Delicious in Pimms  

maryb

Ahhh!  Pimms!  Perfect weather for it today!  For some reason we have lots in store.  I think we can never remember whether we have any left from the previous year so buy some more when we see it in the supermarket on a hot day.  Oh well, one should never let essential supplies run low, after all.  We are preppers!
I've grown basil and coriander on the kitchen windowsill very easily in the past.  But nowadays I buy a pot from Lidl and pop it in the herb bed where it lasts ages  

Floss

I don't bother with coriander as I dislike the taste. I'm hoping for home grown mojitos this summer (well, h/g mint anyway!).

maryb

The really important question is, do you have lemon or cucumber in your G&T?  Personally, I like cucumber with Hendricks (and Mermaid Gin from the Isle of Wight.  Lovely stuff)

VJsmum

Urgh, cucumber....   It has an.... embarrassing interesting effect on me, even as a flavouring 😳🤣.  Hendricks is the only pure (i am not keen on flavoured) gin i dislike.  Have you tried peppercorns in your gin?  We have them with Opihr, which is spicy, peppery anyway.  Storing up gin is prepping, no?

I don't think i'd recognise borage if i fell over it.

Aldi do a Pimms substitute that is most acceptable... 

Ah, alcohol, a topic i can join in with - I have given up attempting to grow much at all, except some runner beans.

Nargleblast

Now Pimms - don't buy the stuff from the shops, make it from scratch.
It's easy as 1,2,3.
One part gin
Two parts red vermouth
Three parts lemonade.

Serve with ice, sliced fruit, salad bits, mint leaves, borage flowers or whatever else you can find growing in your garden. Kicks like a mule if you have too much.

Prepping wise, I have some healthy-looking pepper plants, mange touts, chard, purple sprouting broccoli and herbs like sage, mint, rosemary and chives. Some dill seedlings are coming through nicely, I have shed-loads of lavender, and one apple tree (a small one, smaller than me) has loads of baby fruits on it. Indoors my chilli seedlings look good, There's Thai (hot), Habanera (hot hot) and Naga (hot hot hot). I don't actually like too much chilli, and peppers in large quantities repeat on me, but I can eat them or give them away if they fruit successfully.

thriftwizard

I'm not a cucumber fan, though the family in general are, but I do love borage; it pops up of its own accord all over my allotment & the bees absolutely adore it. @VJsmum, you'd only fall over it when it's small; full-grown you'd be hacking your way through. It's a big plant, up to about 4', pale-ish green & somewhat prickly, with heads of multiple pretty blue flowers nodding over the foliage and usually buzzing with bees. Also called "starflower". 

[Deleted User]

I quite like cucumber but OH detests it I have to segregate it in salads or he hurrumphs! with only me eating it we now grow the minature type that only get around 6" long and that's the amount that's ideal for a couple of salads. Borage is one of those plants that once you have it...you always have it and it's vigorous enough to take over flower beds and persistent, comes back year on year but does really attract in the bees.  I don't do alcohol of any kind so it's no use to us for Pimms but it's quite pretty with the flowers that lovely bright blue.