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Verticillium wilt begins on the lower leaves
which turn yellow and die
Mosaic is a swerious viral infection that mottles
the leaves of young plants with splotches and
eventually makes them curl and wrinkle. Any
fruit produced becomes bumpy and bitter.
Japanese beetles are the primary pest that affects
basil. If they begin to skeletonize plant leaves.
The best control is by hand picking.
Harvesting
To harvest basil, begin picking leaves as soon
as the plant is large enough to spare them. Collect
from the top leaves on the branches by cutting off
several inches. Make sure to handle basil gently.
For future use, basil can be air dried in small loose
hanging bundles. Once it has been dried, remove
the leaves from the stems and place the dried leaves
into a bottle or plastic bag. Store them at room tem-
perature in a dark location. They can also be packed
in olive oil by mashing the leaves to create a paste.
Freeze them in ice-cube trays for use in sauces and
soups. You can also store this concoction in the
refrigerator. You can also make a pesto of pureed
basil, garlic, grated cheese and olive oil.
Sweet peppers become sweeter as they mature
and turn from green to the mature colors of the
pepper variety; however, any pepper can be picked
and used green. Always cut rather than pull pep-
pers from the plant. When frost is predicted, pull
the plants by the roots and hang them in a cool
dry place indoors so that the fruits can continue to
ripen. This will give you time to process peppers.
Peppers can be used in numerous dishes and can-
ning recipes. They can also be cut up and put onto
cookie sheets and frozen without blanching. Once
frozen, transfer them to plastic bags and use pep-
pers in cooking. (Do not thaw before cooking.) GG
Donna Brown is the author of the gardening book
Simply Vegetable Gardening which is available on her
website: Cygnetbrow.com. She can be contacted at
[email protected].
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www.GardenandGreenhouse.net
June 2018