::waves:: Hi to Momma_s and Sue the newest friends of Gamine's Garden! =)
THE GOOD:
In the meantime the garden's been doing well in general. My green beans have been going nuts but they're almost done now. I was hoping to can some of the last of them (Dilly beans) but realized that I didn't plant any dill! Oh noze. I love pickled beans. We've been eating them steamed and sautéed but I'd really like some pickled one's as hors d'œuvres at Thanksgiving. I must remember to plant more next year.
My carrots are also coming in and are quite delish! The purple one's don't taste any different then the orange ones but they are fun to look at. Cooking them didn't diminish their color either which was fun. The orange one's grew a bit more vigorously then the purple's. I'm planning on reds as a fall crop. We'll see how those do.
Many of our flowers are in bloom now too...
Since my preschooler is worse then the squirrels and jays when it comes to eating the berries out of our yard we went to a U-Pick farm a couple of days ago to get some blueberries since there was less then a few handfuls at home! We picked a lot of berries! (No I'm not wearing white stockings - I'm just really that pale!)
We made jam with them yesterday. Why is it that canning had to take place on the hottest day of the year? I seriously think my sweat was sweating. Ha! It was 115° in my kitchen in front of the stove. We have no AC. On the other hand - blueberry/lime jam and blueberry/orange jam - YUM!
I also need to get a canning rack for the smaller sized jars I used yesterday. The rack that came with the pot was for pints and the jam recipes called for half pints. Does anyone know where I can get just the racks? I assume I'll have to go on-line.
I was a bit smarter today and made freezer jam. It's a good batch too. =) ...and there's *still* blueberries left! I could probably make another batch of freezer jam if I was motivated.
Also pulled a ton of parsley out of the garden. It was crowding the tom's and basil. I coarsely chopped it and it's now in the freezer on a cookie sheet. Later tonight I'll put it in a zip lock freezer bag. It'll be perfect for using in soups, stews and broths this fall and winter. I have a load more that I need to pull and process out of the garden but honestly, I'm tired of standing on my feet.
Oh! And I found the first cucumber on the vine a few days ago. Haven't picked it yet.... though I did harvest all my yellow onions and braided them. So pretty!
THE BAD:
I'm still having fungal issues with my crook-neck squash. I have yet to eat even one. Foo! I gave the plant a cornmeal/chamomile bath a week or two ago. It seems to have stopped the ramped blackening of the squash (blossom end rot?) but I still have yet to get anything eatable from the plant.
One of my artichoke plants has a raging infestation of Black Bean Aphids. I tried just spraying them off but they were literally back in full force in just a few hours. I need to make a mix of water, oil, and soap to spray them off with.
8 comments:
My dd loves to eat a lot of berries too. She LOVES blueberries, though we don't have andy plants YET...I am sure we will.
We do need to take her to the U Pick farm! When we took her for strawberries, all she did was sit and eat...none made it to the basket...lol! It was too cute!
Hope you get your computer soon!
Those aphids will get all over artichokes. It's sort of a hazard of the plant, I suppose. Can you share your lime berry jam recipe? It sounds terrific. I sure wish there were a u-pick blueberry place near here. Yum.
Lovely onions!
Shawn Ann, my daughter was just the right size last year to eat ollalieberries right off the vine. She didn't even have to pick them. Just grazed.
Oh, and about the yellow squash -- are they getting pollinated? If they're rotting from the blossom end, that might be a culprit.
Wow look at those carrots! I bet they were good. I'll be pulling my onions very soon. I'll have to try braided them. Yours looks so nice.
Shawn Ann: My kid is a blueberry *junkie* - we planted five and some day it might be enough! lol Of course there are worse things to be addicted to...
Stefaneener: I'm so bummed about the aphids. I've got to get out there tomorrow and deal with them. It's amazing the one artichoke that didn't get attacked is at least a third bigger. The ants are happy though.
And yes I can share the recipe... I'll put it in its own separate post. Oh man - I LOVE ollaieberries!! You can't get them up here (crazy, I know). No one's even heard of them. Such a shame. They're so delish.
Not sure what's going on with the squash. I cut back some of the larger leaves - there's not a lot of air circulation so I hope this will help with that and maybe allowing pollinators to get in near the flowers too, plus some direct sunshine if it is a fungus. The other yellow squash planted in a different place is doing much better so I think it might be location and tight quarters.
Liisa: I held off a long time before pulling my carrots. I also brushed the dirt off the tops to see how big they might be. Some of them were upwards of 12"! And thank you about my onions. =)
The jam sounds delicious, but I think I'd stick to freezer jam in this heat! Of course, I say that and I'm planning on making jalapeno jelly...but we do have AC, so it doesn't get to terribly hot in the kitchen. If I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking or canning, I put a big fan on the counter and aim it right at me. Your onions look so pretty. I just cut the tops off of mine and put them in a basket, but they were just the last of some really puny ones. I'm with Stefaneener on the yellow squash, I'll bet it's not getting pollinated. They'll probably start bearing soon.
Those carrots are so neat looking-are they a sweeter carrot?
And the onions look terrific-I've still got a good month until I harvest mine and I can't wait!
Sorry you've run out of beans. Mine didn't produce well because of the cold and I'm bummed about that....but, there's always NEXT YEAR!!!!!
:)
Bummer about your computer.
But look at those carrots! Who needs technology when you have scrumptious veggies? :)
Rosey
Those are some nice carrots! Maybe mine will grow big this year.
Your beans are finishing and mine are about to start (they're a little later than they were last year). My peas are just finishing.
Post a Comment