August 23, 2018

I sure haven't done a very good job of keeping close track of the garden and it's produce this summer.  I'm running out of canning jars and I'm done with pickles for the year, because I have loads left over that last year. We've put gallons of apples in the freezer from both trees, some for applesauce, some sliced and ready for pies and crisps.  The red apples we've done over the last three weeks, (the yellow ones last month,) but they are too ripe now, and are falling and will have to be picked up, unfit for any to use except for the chickens to eat.  I have about 30 quarts of sauce on the shelves and two pies in the freezer.

I've put four gallons of beans in the freezer and more may be coming. The okra is going great guns, and we're eating them and freezing them and pickling them.  I've put up more peaches.  I got a box of 25 pounds for $22 dollars.  They were beautiful peaches and I wish I could have had more, but surgery intervened. 

Our final count on the corn was 112 quarts.  It's too many just for us, but we will share with the family. 

The tomatoes are just starting up. We've had so much rain this summer.  I think we've had a decent amount every week, enough so we've done no watering since we planted the garden.  Every plant has grown over-sized and over-amounts.  We can hardly get through the tomato plants to pick them.  We are eating the yellow ones and freezing the red ones for soup or juice later.

We are eating our potatoes, carrots and onions. 
Our cantaloupe failed, we can't seem to get that right and we are waiting on winter squash.  The summer squash died early on and I didn't get enough to use or freeze as much as I wanted.

First batch of red apples, we did another batch this size. 

We wouldn't have been able without a very nice peeler/slicer.  

 First results from the apples

Our pullets are laying. So are the older hens, too, of course.  

July 21, 2018

We did our first batch of corn to freeze.  We did 11 1/2 dozen ears and got 23 qts. 

Jim got our first big picking of beans, 2 gallons.

July 14, 2018

My reminder about getting my gardening, especially my flower gardens, didn't help me get on the ball in the blogging area. 

Our spring was late and cold, and then it rained and rained and rained.  We had snow, enough to mess up a lot more of life than gardening on April 14th.  We got all the usual things planted, onions, pea (which came up poorly), potatoes, beets, okra, corn, lettuce, summer squash, tomaotes and winter squash.  There is a pumpkin plant growing from a free pumpkin we got at the National Arbor Day Foundation place last fall.  I'm putting away squash, I made 7 pints of relish today, we've eaten lots, and last night I made enough flour, egg, cracker covered baked yellow slices to eat for supper and some for the freezer.  We are eating cucumbers and I made 2 quarts of Caddie pickles and 1 quart of dills.  Our beets are in 11 quarts of pickles, and we put a couple gallons of apples in the freezer to make into sauce later, a couple of quarts ready for pies.  I made a pie to eat for Sunday. 

We are starting to get beans.

I planted a gorgeous type of lettuce that made lovely big heads like the green leaf stuff you buy at the store.  However, we don't eat much lettuce so those beautiful heads turned into enormous, leggy, bolting plants.  I save a little to eat this week and the rest went to the chickens.

I paid 89 cents a pound for some peaches, that weren't terribly good, but I hope they make good canned peaches since I got 12 quarts out of them. 

March 15, 2018

I want to start the gardening season early.  This is a reminder to start getting the henbit (purple flowers) and creeping charlie (blue flowers) out early so they don't reseed.