Bear in the Garden, Pesto Pest & an Easy Pesto Recipe

One minute my brand-new basil start was vibrant and healthy, the next minute the top leaves were hanging over, limp and wilted. 

I’ve been jonesing for some homemade-from-our-garden pesto pasta, and had loads of freshly-harvested softneck garlic ready to use for the pesto. For the freshest pop of basil flavor, I bought an organic start a few days ago. 

I was just waiting for the top basil leaves to grow just a wee bit bigger before I pinched them off. I stepped outside yesterday for an early-ish bike ride, and saw the biggest leaf cluster was damaged! You could see sort of chew marks on the cut part of the stem.

Well, grrr. I wondered what pest had done it—and immediately thought of ants. I often see them crawling on basil.

Maybe hornets?  Or ants and hornets both? I’ve seen those two critters actually work together to damage berries at the end of the season. Not that it mattered—I no longer had enough basil for my pesto recipe. 

As usual, I tried to see it as half-glass full: at least I had enough fresh basil left for some marinara sauce.

That afternoon, going outside again for my usual work in the garden, I saw the culprit had struck again! 

The second biggest top leaf cluster had met the same fate as the first: hanging by a tiny stem filament, completely wilted. 

Well, now I was really steamed. The whole top half of the plant was toast. 

Drying the leaves in my kitchen

I can still use the basil for something, but my tastebuds had been so ready for fresh pesto.

Watering the now “beheaded” basil start a little while later, I saw a plump, medium-sized bee crawling over the plant—which had no flowers. Gently waving the bee away, I wondered if it was a leafcutter bee—maybe the kind of bee that had been the basil-biter. 

Leafcutter bees chew off little half-moons of sweet leaves like rose foliage—not to eat, but to use as nesting material. I think basil leaves count as sweet too. 

I’ve been researching our native bees the last few days, greatly inspired by a bee-keeping reader. Luckily, my husband John and I have tried to fill our yard and garden with as many pollinator-friendly plants as possible.

So lots of bees around to observe! I’ve been trying to pay a little more attention to our little bee friends, see if I can figure out their nesting and eating habits. 

I’m still upset about my basil. But I’ll take leafcutters and all our other native bees over a pot of basil any day!

If you’ve got fresh basil that you’ve managed to save from your garden’s pests and predators, here’s my recipe:

https://www.susancolleenbrowne.com/single-post/pesto-without-a-food-processor

In other news: my latest black bear invasion update! 

Young black bear just outside our deer fence

You’ll find Bear + Garden = Disaster in my July newsletter…I hope you’ll take a look! 

Growing Basil in a Tricky Climate…and a Pesto Recipe!

 By the fourth week of August, when nighttime temperatures are dipping down into the 40s, my basil generally looks as worn out as an old shoe. The plants have dropped a lot of leaves, and the ones that remain are a pale lime green and dotted with brown spots. Plus the basil has gone to flower—which means the plant is putting its energy into flowers instead of flavor.

Not this year.

Keep in mind that growing this delicate herb at Berryridge Farm has always been pretty high-maintenance. Around early June, I'll buy basil in 4-inch (Baby bear) pots, when the days are finally warm enough for the plants to survive. I’ll transplant the basil babies into 1/2 gallon (Mama bear) pots, then bring the plants indoors at night, until things warm up overall. Say, early to mid-July.

End-of-season basil in middle-sized pots

By then, the plants are really root-bound. So I transplant the basil again, either in large pots (Papa bear-size) or plant them directly into the south-facing bed next to our foundation. It’s the hottest spot in the yard. 

But despite all this strategic basil relocation, my plants’ heyday of vibrant green and robust growth generally doesn’t last more than 3 or 4 weeks.

This summer, while I was busy with extra family responsibilities and forced to let go of my garden, I didn't have time to do the 2^nd round of transplanting (into the Papa bear pots). Plus we've had a lot of big temperature fluctuations the last couple of months, starting with that awful heat dome. But I had always assumed basil needed as much heat and sun as you could give it.

With all that direct sun, I also had to water the pots nearly every day.

For our hot days this summer, I didn’t want to worry about watering and getting my basil pots in the shade at a moment’s notice. So I kept the basil in the Mama bear pots and parked them under our grape arbor, a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. The grapevines give the basil nighttime protection from the cold, and the gravel path right next to the arbor must have ensured the things didn’t get too chilly at the ground level. 

Because surprisingly enough, the basil has thrived!

And apparently, the plants haven't gotten too root-bound. Still, last night, with September around the corner, I knew my basil’s days were numbered. So it was time for Pesto Pasta!

A few years back, I wrote a post about making pesto—without a food processor. (For easy access, here's my method) This time, all I had to do was set aside an hour or so for lots of chopping! The timing was perfect. Besides my basil being great shape, I had harvested my garlic crop just weeks ago, and it had cured up beautifully. The garlic was still mild, with a lovely crispness when you cut into it.

The pesto I’d made before was so garlicky that, while it was delicious, for the next 2 days, all I could taste was garlic. This time, I cut up half of a large clove of garlic and let it sit overnight in a small amount of apple cider vinegar, to mellow overnight.

Just-rinsed basil leaves before chopping

For optimal freshness, just before starting dinner I picked 2 generous handfuls of basil. Once I’d pulled
off the leaves and chopped them up, I ended up with about 1 cup of basil.

To the bowl, I added 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts. Then 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and mixed it vigorously.

I boiled about ½ pound of spaghetti, and after draining, added another 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then I mixed in the pesto.

I like Dubliner cheese, a somewhat strong cheddar-type, and topped my portion with a small amount. John likes LOTS of cheese, and he topped his with a mix of freshly-grated parmesan and medium Cheddar.

My pesto wasn’t quite a total success. I’d been too conservative with the garlic—I should have used an entire clove, if not 2 cloves. Also, the garlic had only needed mellowing in the vinegar for an hour or so, not a whole day. I could have used a lot more olive oil too, since the pesto pasta wasn’t all that rich. Still, it was yummy.

John, however, raved about his pasta. For a side, he sautéed some zucchini from the garden with onion—then topped that with more cheese too. It just goes to show that cheese improves just about anything!