September 19, 2019

Here's an update on some canning.  I got 4 lugs of peaches and canned about 30 quarts and put a couple dozen whole ones in the freezer.  We also got 14 peaches off the peach tree we planted last fall and the pie I made from them was sure good. I made three other pies as well. This must have been a good year for peaches, because our neighbor was overwhelmed with peaches and brought me about as much as I had before.  These were windfalls, so I put most of those in the freezer for toppings and smoothies.

Our grape vines also did very well, and I put 6 fat gallon bags of grapes to make into juice at other time.

Today I finished my second batch of tomato soup and I now have 40 pints of the soup.  I give it to both my daughters.  I still have a counter full of tomatoes.  I like to put them cleaned in the freezer to make into juice later, but my freezer is full so I probably just make these into juice in a couple of days.

Jim has been digging potatoes and carrots, we have winter squash yet in the garden and have let the rest go.

August 22, 2019

In spite of the rainy, hot, humid, late, cloudy and rabbity summer, what is left in our garden is growing great guns.  I'm tired of beans.  We picked about 13 gallons of beans in two pickings and I put those in the freezer.  I'm getting enough okra that I have a gallon of it sliced and cornmealed in the freezer.  The pickles are doing far too well, and I have so many left from last year that I'm tired of them, too.  I've put up at least 6 qts and 4 pints of Bread and Butter pickles, 12 qts of dills, 8 pints of cinnamon pickles, and over 25 pints of zucchini relish.

In the corn department, over four days we put up 42 1/2 dozen ears of corn resulting in 98 large quarts in the freezer.  Lorene's family helps and I'm glad to be done with it.  We have plenty to share.

Our tomatoes which were off to a bad start due to the rabbits and a new idea of putting the plants in wood chips, are putting on fruit.  We have a yellow tomato changing and the volunteer ones in the corn plants have some red ones starting to turn. I want lots this year to make plenty of soup, but I don't know.  It will depend on how soon we get frost.

I heard a cricket this morning.  The first one I've heard in about 6 years.  I don't think the cicadas are singing like they usually do, but they are around, we've seen their shells.

Our carrots are doing well, too.

July 24, 2019

This gardening season has been slow.  Starting out with a very cold and wet spring, not only were we late getting things planted, things took a long time to get started growing.  

We have had a couple good pickings of peas, and are on our second picking of beans.  I put the second picking in the freezer since we are eating yellow and zucchini squash and peas.  I don't like to freeze peas, they don't turn out very nice.  So, we try to just plant enough to eat.  

We have enough cucumbers to eat, too.  I gave a few to Lorene the other day, because Barry was disappointed I didn't have any for him the last time he was here. Jim has a cherry tomato growing in a big feed bucket on the deck.  It's doing very well, partly because it has good soil and partly because it is protected.  

The squash is doing very well.  I've made three batches of relish, three double batches of zucchini bread, and we've eaten it scrambled, sauteed, sliced and breaded, and grated in patties.  That's how we're eating it tonight.  We usually eat it every day until the plants die, and then we're tired of it and ready to wait until next year.  I am putting some sliced away in the freezer for scramble in the winter. 

If you want to know what scramble is, click here.

Jim has been experimenting with wood chip gardening, but he may have jumped the gun this year as the plants in the wood chip area, have not grown as well as the rest. Between the wood chips and the rabbits, some of our garden isn't doing as well as we'd like.  

I planted red petunias under the flag pole a couple of weeks ago and the rabbits promptly ate all the blossoms off.

I think they are the suspects here as well. 

Spiderwort

Lilies

More lilies. 

We've had plenty of rain as well.  July 8 will be a day remembered in infamy because of the flooding.  We had 5 inches of rain here.  Over the weekend we had another 2 inches.  This rain seems to all come in a hurry and there are ruts at the edges of the road, in which the rain goes merrily down making them deeper and wider each time. 

June 23, 2019

Rain, mud, and cold has been our portion this spring. Last week we had nearly 3" of rain which hinders our weeding efforts. Today was another cold day with our high being 60 degrees. We are expecting hot weather next week which should cause all green things to grow...well like weeds.

I went visiting last week at collected rhubarb at a friends and my folks.  I chopped it all up and pout 5 qts. in the freezer and made a crisp, which I took to the guys at work.  It was one of the rainy days and everyone appreciated a little yumminess on a cold, wet day.

May 19, 2019

Yesterday Jim finished planting the garden.  More corn, plus beans, okra, butternut squash, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash and carrots.  I'm disappointed the spinach isn't all coming up, and one row of potatoes is stubbornly refusing to appear.
Jim planted some more tomatoes, Better boy and Rutgers.
Jim also planted a cherry tomato plant in a pot on the deck.
We got a bunch of Roma tomatoes from a friend that has a green house to start her own.  They look a lot better than the pitiful specimens we tried to grow in our not so sunny house.

I've made it around to all the flower garden, weeding and getting rid of last winter's trash.  Now, to start again. I've been doing 45 minutes to an hour outside and it really wears me out.  I'm going to have to remember again that I don't have the strength and energy I used to whether I like the idea or not!

We are done eating our asparagus.  We ate our last mess today.  We've really enjoyed having it.  It is so much nicer than any from the store. Now we'll let it grow into fronds and wait until next year.
It was chilly the end of this week after having two days in the 80s in the middle.

May 9, 2019

Here we are starting a new year of gardening.  I managed to get what I've been wanting to do for years and spent a couple of weeks in the last of March weeding and taking care of trash in the flowers gardens.  The weather was sunny and warm.  And then April came and there were a few days, but so many cold and cloudy ones followed, Jim and I got sick and now that May is here it is still cold and wet and I'm sure the weeds are growing apace, unless they are being stunted by cold weather.

Jim got the early plants planted mid-April, potatoes, peas, onion, spinach, lettuce, and beets. Later he planted the three tomatoes we nursed along from seed and some of our peppers, ditto. They are covered with milk jugs.  We had a cherry tomato, Jim wants to have as a patio plant and some more lunch box peppers to plant.  We started those from seeds from last years peppers. We had light rain two days ago and heavier rain all day yesterday.  I also planted some dwarf zinnas by the mail box and some dwarf cosmos by the pond.  At least the wet days should help them get started.

Jim has also planted 4 rows of sweet corn in spite of his planter deciding to be particular in rough soil. 

We are off to a good start and with the sun peeking out as I write, I think the next few days are expected to be better.