cultivating herbs

in pots. that's what i do. but they won't survive in heat and humidity so what i do is, i leave the pots in my airconditioned room all day, and when night falls, i transfer them to the patio for natural cool air.

an indian friend brings me basil from india everytime she goes on a trip. it's actually the most successful herb i've grown because it likes sunny places. and everytime you pluck some leaves, there'd always be new growth of shoots.

if you have friends living abroad, they might be able to send seeds you can plant.

to preserve fresh herbs, keep them in a dark ceramic container, sprinkled with a lot of sea salt with a lid in the fridge.

or you can harvest basil leaves and make pesto right away. the best for me is when i mortar and pestle pesto. doing it in the blender is just not the same.

i don't have a green thumb. i can't count the number of times the herbs died on me. so it's been always a hit and miss thing.

it's not easy to find herbs in pots, but when you do (in markets, esp sunday markets...or in tagaytay) even in supermarkets, you can try and cultivate them by repotting.

buy bigger pots to replant them.

so far, i've only been successful with parsley and basil. but they haven't been flourishing the way i want them to.

it helps if the temperature is moderate so i find an airconditioner handy. but only because it's almost summertime. during the cooler months, you don't need to keep the herbs happily airconditioned.

ps. of course the easiest to preserve herbs esp in the tropics is dry them but then if you want to preserve fresh herbs, and as long as you use them within a week and a bit, the layering with salt works. and the herbs retain much of the flavour.