Summer

[Laura]

Is always a busy time for us..
Weeding, today & last night..We took the wind protection off the tomatoes..fed them..watered them & put the hay around them.
Everything is doing so well!!
The peppers are growing quite well now that it has warmed up at night. We will be picking them more then likely the end of July..
The green beans have flowers all over them..they will be ready in a couple weeks.
The beets need to be pulled & turned into pickles. Then I will do a second crop..
Carrots are looking real good..nice full tops on them.
We took care of 7 meals worth of Brocolli last night. Love the stuff.
Planted more turnips. & more cukes..

[rivervalleymama]

Man I wish I had a better head start on stuff this year......
I've been thinking a lot on beets lately, can't wait until mine are ready!
I've had wonderful weeding opportunities but haven't wanted to take them because I just want to snuggle up inside.

[mckenzygirl]

I would of like to have had a better head start on my garden too!
I just got my garden planted last week.

Between a daughter and son in law borrowing the tiller then keeping it for weeks on end, then having to go to Moose Lake to pick up the tiller, well you can see why I had a late start on my garden.
Would love to see pics of your garden Laura! I always enjoy seeing your garden! Makes me wanna "copy" yours ! (You know that will never happen! )

Hows your tomatoes doing? I have a few plants with maters on them already! I planted ground cherries this year too. Did you ?

[Laura]

No ground cherries this year..
There are pics of the garden up..in garden pics..2009..we will have new ones soon.. also of the pup..

[Laura]

Forgot the beets are ready to be pulled..gonna make pickles outta them.

[Penny]

Wow....thats great you guys, well done,

[Pharmer Phil]

Jul 3, 2009 21:58:16 GMT -6 Laura said:

No ground cherries this year..
There are pics of the garden up..in garden pics..2009..we will have new ones soon.. also of the pup..

Hey der Sweetie, doncha remember da lil volunteer Ground cherry plant I found near da foundation??. it'll make a few snacks

[Laura]

We have been busy here the last few days..
Friday we had an early get up..3 a.m.
haven't recovered yet..
Sat we had to go to town..looking for bikes again..we had 2 they were not right so took them back..went to several places..will re-check the ones we picked out again tomorrow.
Had to buy deer fence..electric..
It works
had a malfunction with the dryer.. It was a tad bit too warm inside Replaced it today.
Had to pick g.b. canned 18 pints..( green beans)
Just now sat down for the day.

[Penny]

Holy cow Laura.....what a day~~~~!!!

[Rita]

WOW you 2 be busy as all get out !!

[kansasterri]

My garden is wierd this year.

I had a lot of gaps and so I went back with cantelope and cucumber seeds to plant in the gaps.

Everything is green, but, it looks a little strange. There is a corn stalk at erratic intervals, lots of vines that are growing into each other, a few artichoke plants, etc etc etc.

I am just glad to HAVE a garden! Last years garden went under water!!!!!!!!!

[Laura]

Well..we have a buyer for quite a bit of dill..
We will have corn coming out our ears soon.. going to freeze it on the cob..tastes yummy like that. Cant do all of it like this tho..would need a huge freezer..
We finished our fair entry forms..together we have a total of 40 things going in..
Have green beans to pick & find a home for..have more broccoli to pick.
took a bike ride & picked a bicycle basket plum full of red clover for me.. now we have to dry it..
So we will be busy..

[ghoststomper]

Good luck Laura & Phil at the fair , we know you'll do great.

[Penny]

Wow ...thats awsome.....40 entries........hope you's place well.
Nothing like fresh dill, green beans and broccoli.

[Christy]

Good luck Phil n Laura!!

[Laura]

As summer winds down here we are busy putting up things here..made more pickled beets.
Have a home made Corned beef brisket in the oven with all of our vegies..Tators..the look alike B-sprouts..little cabbages..
carrots, the last of the green beans, turnips, onions. Cant wait to eat..starving..

[rivervalleymama]

Mmmm love corned beef- the cabbage cooked in the juices is the best part!

[Laura]

So...when things should be slowing down here..they have stepped up 10 notches..
We had oh..maybe 80-100 lbs of tomatoes that Phil picked..some are now in jars..just took them out of the canner. Some are waiting to be made into Salsa..as we only have 2 lil bitty jars made so phar..
Just slow going..& now that we have had several days of real warm days & decent nights..things have done well.
We have dozens of HoT peppers that need to be picked..Tators need to come out..Onions need to come out..
Being a glutton for punishment.. I picked a big ole box of real nice apples..Plus I brought home PHREE Pears..we canned some of them..& have more to work up..They however will be made into apple/pear sauce..& I want to make more apple butter..waste not want not..so work like dogs we will.. & when it is cold we can have one of many treats we have made..
Grape jelly has to be re-done..it didn't set..Phil picked the grapes from the ditches..
The squash is not ready to come out..there will be about 6 real big ones & 5 smaller ones.. I love squash..esp with butter & brown sugar..

[Laura]

Well we worked all day today. Got all the tators out & curing.
Canned 3 half gallon jars of brined pickles. Canned applesauce. Made salsa yesterday. Re-made the grape jelly. All together we put up 42 different jars of goodies. Pics to follow. Peppers have to be seeded & froze. Maybe Monday..We are in relax mode now..

[Compost Pharmer]

Keep the seeds Laura for the ' Great Seed Exchange' this winter. You guys sure had a great garden this year. I wish mine had done just a 1/4 of what yours did. With all the rain we got in the last week, 12" plus, most of my plants have died.

[Laura]

So..we have numerous canned items on the table waiting to be put away..but 1st we will show you a bit of our work over the last 4 days..pics to follow in a day or 2..

[Laura]

So...we picked ALL the rest of the peppers & tomatoes. But now we have to put the green peppers in paper bags to ripen.
We will make green tomato pickles on Sat..have the neighbor coming over to help.. She is a pickle nut so we will send some home with her.. will use the little mators for that..we have more larger ones on the shelf..
we need time to get all the plants & cages out of the gardens. We have squash that needs to cure..punkins... that we will carve & some put up for pie..
Oh..I have a camera full of pictures..the last ones I took tonight of some peppers..you will be amazed at how big they are..

[Laura]

Are you ready?? I phinally have pics to post..As you can see I have a mix of several picture takings. Hope you enjoy.

Half gallon jars of pickles


Re-made grape jelly


Applesauce


Applesauce


Whole tomatoes


Picante Salsa


Picante Salsa


Yellow Habanero ( giants)


Yellow Habs..


Pepper mix


Big Bell next to a quart jar & a pint jar


Big Bell next to a quart jar & a pint jar


Pepper mix


Pepper mix


Pepper mix


Country drive


Drive continued


Still driving


Roof of a HUGE house


Crooked road on our drive


Sunset tonight


Another sunset


Parsnips dug today


Parsnips from today


More parsnips


Finally our free Pears

[Rita]

WOW everything looks great ... I am so jealous .. I didn't even get half of what you got all season , in that last picking

all your preserves look totally perfect and YUMMY!! Thanks for all the pics
I would of needed a drive to relax after all that as well

[Laura]

Oct 10, 2009 19:13:49 GMT -6 Rita said:

WOW everything looks great ... I am so jealous .. I didn't even get half of what you got all season , in that last picking

all your preserves look totally perfect and YUMMY!! Thanks for all the pics
I would of needed a drive to relax after all that as well

Thanks Rita..we worked hard making all the canned goodies..
We made 18 quarts of green tomato pickles today..the neighbor came over this A.M. & helped..she loves pickles..so will send some of them over there.
We still have crates of peppers downstairs to Bag up so they ripen.
Theres tomatoes also to ripen up yet.

[Rita]

WOW well with all the work you two put into your gardens .. Its always great to see the amount of goodies you all get out of them!!
you sound like you will be busy well into late fall ...
I like your applesauce .. I like it the same with a little apple still left in it ..

[Songbird]

Laura,
I stripped all the remaining tomatoes off of my vines a couple of evenings ago. We knew there were three night of below freezing temps to come, and I just decided to do it in.

I have a lot of green romas and cherries
What's the best thing to do with them? So far, they are just sitting on the counter, on a waxpaper lined aluminum cookie sheet pan.

[Rita]

aww put them in news papers in boxes and let them rippen ... don't let them touch .. how many ya have song?

[Songbird]

I have about 50 or so.

Do you mean wrap them individually?

[Laura]

We have our tomatoes on the table downstairs..we are however doing a good job using them..Made some end of the garden pickles today..Have a little bit of everything in them. Pics to follow..we made some sweet pepper pickles last night too..