My fence is finally up! I took this picture from the deck this morning. We ended up building the fence board by board rather than panels because the ground is uneven, which made for more work, but I'm loving it. It makes a great backdrop for the garden and for future flower beds.
My garden thrived this season for the most part. Didn't produce as many cukes as I wanted, but all and all it was a good year.
This is my second batch of pickled peppers. My daughter called yesterday, and asked for a quart size jar. She said she knocked out the jelly jar in one setting. I was able to make 2 quarts, 2 pints and 3 jelly jars from the batch I picked yesterday. I gave away 2 gallon baggies full to the guys who helped build my garden fence.
I'm drying chili peppers in this bowl. Initially, I put them in the oven at 170 degrees for the day to get them started. The oven drying technique calls for a temperature of 150 degrees or less, but my oven doesn't go that low. I'll let them sit for a few more days and than I'll throw them in the chopper to make dry pepper flakes. I put them on everything!
I plucked this batch of tomatoes from the garden for fresh salsa. I love that I have a variety of colors. There's nothing better than colorful and flavorful foods. I'll be canning the salsa for Christmas gifts again this year. I made baskets last year with salsa, chips and homemade cookies for family and friends. It was a big hit, homemade and cheap. Can't get any better than that.
This was my attempt at making Spicy Dill refrigerator pickles from my cukes. I have a few yellow cukes in there, but they were yummy! Unfortunately, my vines didn't produce many. I called numerous farmer's markets in the area, and they didn't have much luck with the cuke crop either. Walmart has a pretty good deal on their pickling cukes, so I may resort to store brought cucumbers to make more.
Well I'm off to blanch tomatoes for the salsa. Need to go to the garden and pick a few jalapenos for the salsa. We like it hot in my household. I wonder if this heat is a contributor to my hot flashes! How did your garden do this season? Have you brought out the canner yet? Leave me a comment and I'll stop and visit your garden endeavors.
I was worried about my garden while on vacation, but it did great. It's amazing what can happen in 7 days. I gave it a good soaking before we left and I'm in awe of my plants when I visited today. The squash and zucchini are just about at the top of the trellis and both are producing. I wonder how long it will take before my neighbors ask me not to leave them anymore squash or zucchini.
These were babies when I left. They were huge when I returned. I harvested 6 squash and 2 zucchini. Guess who will be making a batch of zucchini bread this week. I have a new recipe that I'm going to try with the squash thanks to my neighbor. The others I will share with my mother.
This is the pepper patch. Several of the peppers were on the ground, so I had to tie them up today. They are all producing. Can't wait to make pepper flakes out of the chilies, and freeze the others for some of my other favorites dishes this winter. I love hot pepper flakes on everything!
Miss Tilly is wearing her new hat thanks to my neighbor. Doesn't she look great. It was a little large, so I stuck in a few hat pins to hold it up.
The tomatoes are doing great. At the top are a beefsteak and Paul Robeson. Both are flowering. The beefsteak has a few tomatoes. I'm working diligently to remove the suckers this year in hopes of bigger tomatoes. I'm also giving them doses of calcium and fish emulsion, which I didn't do last season. We'll see if it helps. I'm going to put a few scoops of compost around them if time allows this week.
The cukes have taken off. They are now climbing the netting. The dill is doing great. I'm going to use it for refrigerated pickles. I have red onions planted in this area too. They will be used in my salsa.
These are Pink Brandywine. They are flowering and doing great too. Can't wait to slice these babies.
This is a Hillbilly. I named it Hatfield, lol. Watched the movie Hatfield and McCoy on the History Channel last month with Kevin Costner. Oh, how I love him. Now he's planted in my garden. A girl can dream can't she.
The watermelons are sprawling and they have lots of flowers. A vine had actually grown through the fence. I was able to bring it back into the garden and head it in the other direction. I'm letting them grow over the ground along the back fence. I'm hoping there's enough room. My bamboo trellis didn't hold up, so the ground was the alternative.
The Roma patch is under the ladder. They doubled in size while I was gone. I also have Blue Lake and Wax beans in the patch as well. I'm hoping for a good harvest of green beans. My family loves my green beans and corn, so I'm hoping to can a few quarts to use for family gatherings this year.
The french Blue Lake pole beans are wrapping around the teepee trellis. So far so good this year. The groundhogs ate them down 5 times last season. I finally gave up. My battle with them this season will be another post. I also have Blue Lake bush beans in this patch.
Here's my first harvest for 2012. So proud, I grew these from seed. I may try it again next year. The spring onions are a courtesy from my neighbor.
