Summer

The first harvest; small, but still exciting.

 Because everything looks better in a basket, I couldn't resist.

The potatoes are destined for the skillet, but I will save a few to add with the green beans.

Garden Progress

 Our garden is really coming along nicely. Here is how loaded our Serrano Pepper plant looked this morning before Elizabeth picked the peppers.

Here is how one of the Jalapeno Pepper plants looked before I started picking peppers this morning. It's hard to see them but the plant is loaded.

 We have several bell pepper plants; these should make colored peppers.

 And I'm not sure but I believe this pepper will be black. If it's what I remember we will be using it to make enchiladas sauce.

 The mice dug up all but one row of the green beans when I first planted them. To keep this from happening a second time Elizabeth and I planted the second batch in plastic planters and then transplanted them once the plants were established.

We have sweet peas growing, my plan to use the fence as a trellis isn't working; so far the plants keep attaching themselves to the tomatoes and weeds.  

 Our tomato plants are tall and bushy and oh so heavy. After a windstorm earlier this summer the plants all fell over; to solve this problem I wired the tomato cages to the fence.

My cucumbers are growing and spreading everywhere. I have noticed they are now growing outside the fence; guess the rabbits will soon find this and begin feasting on the cucumbers once they start growing.

 I plan to freeze this first picking of Jalapeno Peppers so I can use them in homemade salsa once we start getting an abundance of tomatoes.

 I'm not sure if I'll be freezing the Serrano Peppers or giving them to a friend who loves this variety of pepper. I have a feeling these are going to be a little too spicy for us.

 While searching for worms on the tomato plants we spotted two tomatoes hidden deep in the middle. I'm so anxious to cut into these later today.

 It shouldn't be long before we will be harvesting cucumbers; I love how cute they are in the beginning.

 Today's picking...it's amazing how colorful fresh garden produce can be.

I hope to start planning our fall garden soon; carrots, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce are some of what I would like to grow next.

The First Tomato

With all the problems we had getting our garden started this year, it's hard to believe we are now seeing the fruit of our labor.

This evening I picked our first tomato; it was a nice large tomato that fit nicely in the palm of my hand.

We all shared the tomato and marveled at the wonderful flavor.

This Years Garden

 This years garden will be in the old chicken yard. By using this yard the fence that kept my chickens in should keep the bunnies out. Plus, all the weeds we pull from the garden will be tossed over the fence into the new chicken yard.

Elizabeth and I have been slowly working the ground.

I saved all my fireplace ashes, this is just a small part of what is stored in the garage, to be used in the garden.

 We have been breaking up the dirt by shovel and hauling compost to mix with the dirt.

 Hopefully the combination of dirt, compost, ashes and fertilizer from the chickens will make for a productive garden.

 In the middle of transplanting tomatoes we had a setback.

Our small garden tractor died! I can't complain since it's over 30-years old. Pat grew up using this small workhorse :O)

 Until we get the garden tractor up and running again, I am stuck hauling with a wheelbarrow.

I really miss the garden tractor, dirt is heavy!

Pumpkin Harvest

My two pumpkin plant, that I grew in the flower bed, produced 5-pie pumpkins.

 Each one turned out perfect, full of seeds and healthy flesh.

 Again this year I used my pressure cooker when it was time to cook them.

 I really love how the skin just peels off.

Here is my pumpkin puree.

 And the chickens benefited as well.

 All together I ended up with 5 1/2 bags;

Which will be used for pumpkin bread.

What We Have Growing in the Flower Beds

 We didn't have time this year for a garden but I wanted to plant at least a few favorites. Fresh pumpkin was on the top of my list so I could make pumpkin bread.

I was very late planting our few pumpkin plants so I am hoping there is enough time for them to ripen.

 We love fresh cucumbers as much as fresh tomatoes.

 Thankfully our cucumber plants didn't die like the tomato plants did.

I sure missed my garden this year, hopefully next year we will have a nice one.

Preserving Summer

 Most of our peaches this year were devoured by the birds. So when they started on our last tree we decided to pick the peaches a little early.

The peaches of course are not as sweet and juicy as we like but that's okay because I was still able to preserve summer by making peach jelly.

I love homemade peach jelly; this jar is for us to eat right away. 

Now I need to bake some biscuits.

In My Yard

In my yard there is a lovely pomegranate tree.

 Full of pretty flowers.

It has been interesting watching what we thought was fruit turn into flowers.

 Each time we search the branches we spot more and more flower starts.

    I'm curious to see just  how much fruit we will end up with.

We are all very excited about eating a homegrown pomegranate.

Pickled Jalapenos

My few jalapeno plants have really produced. This is only some of what was picked today. See the white pan holding the peppers? A recently find at the thrift store.This time I pickled the peppers using a brine of 5-parts white vinegar and 1-part water; to each pint jar I added half a teaspoon canning salt; and put in a hot water bath for 15-minutes.

There were so many peppers gathered today I was able to share with a friend and still had enough to can 12-jars!

Still Hope

My tomato plants are still growing and blooming. In fact, the plants are putting on tomatoes like it was spring instead of fall.

Almost daily I spot new tomatoes at various sizes.

However, something has been eating them as they begin to turn red.

I have been cutting off the bad spots, feasting on the rest and still hoping for enough to preserve for later.