Garden Pic Wednesday: Drying Basil!

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Here in North Florida, our autumn begins in mid to late November as soon as temps cool enough to cause deciduous trees turn orange, yellow and burgundy!

It's also time to harvest Basil and dry it before a freeze comes along!
This is colander full is what I harvested today! It's a mix of Sweet, Thai and Red!  Basil will self-sow readily, if you let them go to flower, so I plant the spring volunteers in beds and containers everywhere.
Here, they bloom well into the cooler weather as long as it's warm and sunny during the day and feed the bees until a freeze comes along.




This is what  prepping it for drying looks like:
The dryer has 5 trays. I filled 3. It's a basic model that's on when I plug it in and off when I unplug it, so I prefer to do drying while doing laundry, since it's out in the garage. That way I'll remember it's on!
 The garage is sooo fragrant right now!




Because Basil freezes, I have to dry it. I like to dry some Green Oregano, though it is unaffected by cold or freezes and stays green all winter. Also the Rosemary & Curly Parsley I just snip as needed throughout winter. 

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