How the Garden Grows...

We're in a lull between hay cuttings, so I thought I'd do a post on something non farm related that's growing here.  Warning...it's a little picture heavy, but I just love seeing things grow, so I won't be offended if you breeze through quickly!  :)

I seem to be having another good tomato year.  Those plants in the middle have taken off after a poor start, surviving ten days straight of rain.  There are green tomatoes galore.  The cucumbers in the foreground are doing the same!  I put them in a cage so that they can climb up instead of sprawling out, and as a result I get straight cucumbers, rather than curly ones...

Can you find the cucumber?  It's well camouflaged.  I plant Burpless #26.  The cucumbers are long, thin and straight, and have few seeds...

I haven't grown patty pan squash for a couple of years.  This plant survived the wet weather and being nibbled on by a ground hog early on...

Sweet Heat peppers are a new addition this year.  I'll use them in my salsa.  They came in a 4-pack, so if anyone local wants some, let me know!!

Sweet Baby Girl...my favorite cherry tomato ever!  It's almost as tall as my head!

 So far so good with the zucchini, too.  I know that one morning I'll go out and it will be totally wilted, but for now we're enjoying the bounty...

I had several extra railroad ties when I lined the garden a year or so ago, so I made a small area where I like to plant sunflowers.  I have a lot of volunteers in the garden, but this patch was planted from a variety pack. I'm curious to see what all colors I have?  There's a good variety of sizes...

Speaking of volunteers...a bunch of dill came up along the south edge of the garden, so I left it grow.  I had to pick some caterpillars off of it early on, and now it's enjoying life...

Last but not least, there's a row of zinnias for picking along the edge as well.  Such cheery little flowers they are!

How does your garden grow?

Still Canning Tomatoes...

It's been a few weeks since I posted...and guess what?  I'm still canning tomatoes!

I made three batches of salsa, one batch of spaghetti sauce (I have some left from last year) and I'm on my second batch of tomato soup today!

Oh...and in there, a friend came and picked several buckets full of tomatoes when I was gone taking Jenna to college in Kansas.  They just keep growing and ripening...yay for those of us who like tomatoes!

Yesterday when I got up, I was planning to make a fourth batch of salsa...but I read a post on face book by a friend who made soup, and so I changed my plans.  I think she froze hers, but I found a recipe that looked good that was for a pressure canner, and so I gave it a try.  I think the kettle full of veggies looks so pretty!

Such an easy recipe...and I got ten pints, plus enough for our supper last night...

Normally, a pint jar of soup concentrate wouldn't be nearly enough for our family...but I'm having to retrain myself to think in terms of cooking for two, not four.  Both kids are away at college, so it's a season of change here in many ways.

Here's the recipe, if you'd like to give it a try...

TOMATO SOUP CONCENTRATE

8 lbs ripe tomatoes, unpeeled, quartered

1 cup celery, diced

2 cups onion, diced

1 cup fresh parsley

6 bay leaves

3/4 cup clear jel

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 1/2 Tbsp salt (optional...I used less)

1/4 cup sugar (optional)

Place tomatoes, celery, onion, parsley and bay leaves in a large stainless steel pot.  Cook gently, uncovered, until tender, stirring as needed.

Press through a food strainer, or sieve into a large stainless steel or enamel cast iron sauce pan.  

Set aside 2 cups of puree to cool.

Whisk together clear jel, and cooled tomato puree to form a slurry.

Bring soup back to a boil and stir in the slurry.  (This is when I added the salt, pepper and sugar)  Continue to boil for about two minutes, until it thickens.  *Soup will not resemble commercial soup concentrate, but rather a slightly-too-thick tomato soup.

Ladle into pint or half pint jars and fill to 1" head space.  Wipe rings and set two piece caps.

Process in pressure canner...at 10 lbs pressure for a weighted gauge and 11 lbs pressure for dial gauge...for 25 minutes.  Do not use quarts for this recipe

When ready to make the soup, just heat with equal parts liquid such as milk, water or chicken broth.

I kept some extra out for our supper last night, and we were pleased with the taste!  Grilled cheese sandwiches and fresh lima beans from my Mom's garden made a tasty meal!  

A Bumper Crop Of 'Maters...

It's been a fabulous growing season here!  Rain, rain and more rain, and hot humid days have given every plant the extra boost needed to grow.  Even the weeds.  :(

Like most other crops, my tomatoes have over achieved this year.  I planted six different varieties...one plant of each...and they've gone wild!

I planted Celebrity, Early Girl, Mountain Fresh, Amish Paste, Abe Lincoln and ??  I can't seem to remember the last one, and the tag is missing.  All of them are producing large fruit that are ripening evenly without cracking (from all the rain) except for Mr Lincoln.  I don't think I'll plant that one again. Those tomatoes are yellow on the shoulders and have mostly cracked. Lucky for the chickens, their pen is right next to the garden, and they get the rejects for snack!

This morning I picked a large bucket full, and made my first batch of salsa.  I tried to make it a little on the hot side, since Eric and Jim both like it better that way, but I'm not sure I was too successful. Eric will be living in an on campus apartment this year at college, so I figured I'd send a stash with him. Hopefully he and his room mates will like it even if it's mild.

It looks like tomorrow or Saturday I'll have another bunch ready for picking...

My favorite cherry tomato ever is Sweet Baby Girl.  I've not been disappointed in her this summer either.  These beauties are just the right size for a bite sized taste, and they're wonderfully sweet...

This afternoon's harvest...

...and the batch of salsa that I made this morning is bubbling away in the canner as I type...so see...I'm not wasting time, I'm multi tasking!  :)

Jim is about half finished with fourth cutting hay...Jenna is mowing the yard...Eric is at work...and we're enjoying our last week together as a family before both kids head off to college next weekend.  It's going to be really, really different around here as we do the "empty nest" thing for the first time!

What's happening where you are?  In your garden? On your farm?

Here's a link to the salsa recipe that we like!

Overzealous Tomatoes...

For the past twenty two years, I have struggled to grow tomatoes in my garden!

What?!  Who can't grow tomatoes?  Apparently I can't couldn't.

Why?  Maybe partly because there's blight in my soil?  Maybe because when I would sucker them, I was damaging the stem and allowing disease in?  Who know why.

I make a lot of salsa, and I can a lot of pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and plain tomatoes for cooking.  I was determined this year to "do it right" and by the looks of things, I've finally succeeded.  I'm 5' 5", and this one is up to my nose, and just about as big around...

I found a couple of ripening ones this morning...

This is the cherry tomato on steroids.  I'm almost certain it grows a foot each day lately...

There are tons of baby cherry tomatoes hanging on the vine...

So...what did I do differently?

*Last fall I talked to an Amish neighbor who has a green house.  He sold me something to sprinkle on my soil.  Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called!  It was a 40 lb bag of something that resembled lime in color and texture, but it wasn't lime.

*When I planted this year, I immediately sprayed the leaves with Liquid Copper, which helps to prevent early blight among other diseases.  I'm not an "organic" grower, but for those of you who are, it's an organic approved treatment.

*I also mulched heavily with straw, which prevents the soil from splashing up onto the leaves when it rains, which is how blight spreads to the tomato plant.

*Last, I didn't sucker the plants, but just put the cages around them and left them be.

The results seem to be positive...

All in all, it's a lesson for me to "never give up"!

Garden Goodness...

August has been good to us so far...

We've been having some gorgeous weather this week.  It's been hot, yes, but the humidity has dropped below it's normally (IMO) unbearable levels, and we couldn't ask for a nicer day today!

We've been enjoying produce from our garden...not nearly at the volume of other years...but maybe that's part of why I'm enjoying it so much!

The cantelopes are ripening all of a sudden...

I picked four so far, and there are two more that will be ready in another day or so.  I plant the Athena variety.  They seem to be disease resistant, and they're nice and sweet.

My Black Cherry Tomatoes are loaded.  This is the first year I planted this kind, and they're not quite what I expected.  They're a little larger than I thought they'd be.  I've picked a few ripe ones, and the jury is still out on the taste...

I'm glad I saw this guy before I reached in...

The first batch of regular tomatoes that I planted have all died, as usual, but I found some for a dollar at a neighbor's greenhouse late in the spring, and gave them a shot.  So far they're doing well, and haven't shown any signs of blight or whatever usually ails my tomato plants!  Maybe it's because the second half of our summer has been much drier than the first half?

The red raspberries are growing in leaps and bounds.  I planted three plants behind my garden shed a few years ago, and now they've gone wild!  These particular bushes bear all summer long.  I pick a few cups a day, and freeze them until I have enough for jelly or pancake syrup...

My new chickens like to hang out by the fence beside the bushes.  They like the shade they get there, as well as the occasional berry that falls on their side of the fence.

Earlier this summer the Japanese Beetles had a feast on the leaves, but now they've moved on and the bushes have set more fruit.  Don't they look delicious?

The chickens also eat my scraps.  These young ones are still learning that garden scraps are tasty.  They've eaten a few overgrown zucchini, they love watermelon rind, and are learning how good cantelope tastes as well.  They still don't come running when they see a bucket like the old ones did, but they're learning!  They're 18 weeks old, and will soon be laying a few small pullet eggs...

Here's a sample of what I found in the garden today...

My zucchini outdid themselves this year.  I found one small one yet this morning, and it might be the last one.  We'll see.

I don't think the kids will mind!