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  • From: Harriet Allen <hattie_allen AT yahoo.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] basil
  • Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:16:45 -0700 (PDT)

I don't have problems packaging basil anymore.  Keep it in a cool, but not cold place if you have a cool place--anything less than 70 degrees is OK. I put it in a plastic bag and I don't leave the bag open...I tape it closed loosely.  But I do place a small piece of paper towel inside the bag (the paper towels that come so they rip in half sheets work well).  This absorbs the excess moisture.  It keeps just fine that way.  But bag it quickly. Don't leave it laying out on the table.  Or, keep it standing in water until you are ready to bag it.  I do sell lots of my basil in bunches, and keep it standing in buckets of water.
 
If my basil comes in a bit warm from the garden, especially if I pick in the evening, I put it in a plastic grocery bag and set it in the rifrigerator for twenty minutes or so just to cool it a little bit.  If I pick in the morning and it has lots of dew on it, then I use paper towels or any towel to layer into a bucket or bag to absorb the moisture...but I bag quickly because you don't want it to wilt or dry out.  For my wholesale accounts, I stuff a plastic grocery bag with a pound or so of basil with paper towel on the bottom and maybe a sheet in between and tie it losely at the top so that it is not completely air tight.  It stays good this way for a long time.  I set it on the garage floor in the shade and I keep the garage around 70 degrees.
 
Now the real problem.  I've got Basil Downy Mildew!  Horror of horrors.  I looked it up last night after seeing this thing go through one stand of my basil in about three days...while I was preparing for the farmers market and when I finally looked at it again, it had spread really quickly.  I sprayed with Serenade, then read about it and just finished spraying all the basil with baking soda and soap tonight.  Anyone else having this problem yet?
 
Hattie Allen
Lewes, DE
Zone 7
Cooler and drier than usual--as in low humidity--nice rain early, but now no rain for about two plus weeks.


  • [Market-farming] basil, Harriet Allen, 07/21/2009

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