I want to buy my own plants... but what do I do with them?

Hi macdlingolinger, I don't really use parsley so can't help you there but probably use basil every day in the summer. I just take the fresh leaves off the plant and and rip them into pieces and add to salads, they go especut frially well with tomatoes in olive oil. I wouldn't dry it at all but it freezes really well, you can just pop it in ice cube trays with some water and then throw them in whatever you want as the ice preserves the leaf perfectly. They are also a great addition to home made tomato soup but I adore the fresh taste in salads, to me a salad wouldn't be a salad without fresh basil.

i think with all herbs you can use them straight from the plant or dry them. fresh basil is great but the flavour seems stronger when you dry it. i have a lot of herb plants i grew from seeds and they make nice house plants as well as being handy for cooking.

My mother raises both of them and she dries them in her oven - low setting maybe 280 or 300 and just check them. I think finely chopped it shouldn't take more then 5 minutes. I'm alittle fuzzy on the time details. I love basil and use it in about everything I make, parsley is a great additive for color but basil - oh you will fall in love with basil. She stores them in air tight jars like an olive jar or pickle jar or you can up them in zip lock bags too. Seriously, you wouldn't believe the extra flavor from them.

You can use basil for cooking (pesto, grilled stuff, fried eggs, etc) but there's also a certain joy of just taking care of the plants. Buy them and propagate. It's a great experience.

Here in india one can see basil plants in almost all homes, we hindus consider this as holy plant, treat this as a goddess , we call TULSI Well the leaves can be dried in shade, and preserved as such or in freeze, try this!! Thank you so much for this discussion. Professor. . Cheers have a great day ahead. God bless you. Welcome always.