This is the tale of our beloved basil plant, *Frank. We bought Frank at a nursery last year, we enjoyed his leaves in our pasta and atop our tomatoes. He was a good basil plant. He grew consistently and had growth spurts when we pruned him. Things were going well between us. Then something horrible happened to Frank.
He died.
It’s about the worst thing that can happen to a plant I guess. Winter had come and dried him out and we decided watering was a lost cause. After all, he was an annual and wouldn’t be coming back for another season. In honor of his memory, we left his dead carcass in its pot on our porch for several weeks. (Truth be told it was months and more because we were lazy–but that’s too embarrassing to write in the story.) Then one day it was time to say goodbye to Frank because people were coming over and we wanted the front porch to look nice. We moved his pot to the side of the house next to the trash can and the AC unit.
We forgot about Frank. His poor lifeless body was left neglected and alone on the side of our house. We passed him by and barely noticed him. That was until the day he commanded our attention.
Evan was out mowing the lawn when he noticed tiny basil plants growing along the border of the AC unit. Frank had brought life after his death. It was a delicious thing. We dug up the seedlings and planted them on our front porch, but they haven’t been doing great. Dang Austin heat!! Then Evan noticed that more basil was growing by the AC unit. Tons of it in fact. I’m talking make-pesto-even-though-you-need-to-use-a-whole-bunch-of-basil tons! Frank was winning! Since its growth, we’ve given away two plants and we have about four still thriving on the side of our house.
I use fresh basil almost everyday now. And its all thanks to Frank’s dead limbs flowering around our AC unit. We’re thinking of planting a garden there now.
I guess the moral of the story is: being lazy with plants can get you lots of basil.
*Some names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.
poor dead Frank.
Frank's basil babies.
YUM. Recipe coming soon.
Also, I got a new lens. Fun.
