JRmom - Garden is in!

[valmom]

That is a good price as far as I can tell- ones at Agway that look similar up here are $1k+, but they are really sturdy. I'd go for it. Just make sure the wire is sturdy and maybe think of a way to extend the wire either under ground or outside along the ground to deter digging predators.

I am envious of your growing season! I am already starting to despair getting ANY tomatoes or peppers because it has been so cold and rainy this year so far.

 

[Bimpnottin]

Getting veggies already (sigh) and already being able to can. (Ok, technically, I will be canning my asparagus, if my butt gets in gear) but my tomaters are finally reaching the bottom rung of their towers. Think I need to redo the zukes and cukes. We won't have anything to pick until at least end of July, more realistically August.

Gettign some strawberries right now and if I can find the raspberries (wow, the weeds ) we should get a bunch of those.

 

[JRmom]

Last week was my "slow" week for work so I got busy (and spent money) on other things. I finally bit the bullet and bought a pressure canner. I've been using my pressure cooker, but it only holds 4 pint jars, and doesn't have the extra safety vent like a pressure canner. I also bought a food saver. So my week was spent canning and dehydrating....

Peaches, canned 4 pints
Blueberries, made blueberry jam, 7 pints YUMMY!
Carrots, canned 5 lbs.
Potatoes, dehydrated 5 lbs.
Sweet peppers, froze 2 lbs.
Portabella Mushrooms, dehydrated 1 lb.
Bananas, dehydrated 1 bunch
Strawberries - still in fridge, need to make jam, 2 quarts whole fruit
Conk Peas - froze, 2 lbs. shelled

All of the fruit and veggies came from the local produce market for a grand total of $21.00!!! Everything was local except the peaches, mushrooms and bananas. I also stocked up on bulk chicken and pork at the grocery store this weekend (BOGO sale) and used the food saver to freeze in meal size portions. I hadn't been grocery shopping in a while so I was STUNNED at the prices. Really made me want to get into high gear and get as much food put up as possible. The prices are doing nothing but going UP, UP, UP. I'll be visiting the produce market again this week... I'm looking for green beans but may have missed that window.

I don't know if I will dehydrate mushrooms again! Phew!!!!! They stunk to high heaven while dehydrating. My husband was home at the time and at first we thought something in the garbage was rank so he took the garbage out. Smell got worse. It finally dawned on me it was the mushrooms. It smelled like rotting meat. Hubby said the smell was enough to turn him off of mushrooms.... I had to agree. (Note: rotting meat smell plus Febreeze = even worse smell!) Finally, after a couple of hours, they started to smell like mushrooms instead of death. Hopefully I'll be able to use them and not associate them with a bad smell.

We didn't go to the cabin this weekend (didn't have much work during the week, but had 2 deadlines during the weekend - figures!). Anyway, will need to take a bonsai run tonight to check on the garden and pick. I predict more tomato canning this week.

Hubby also spent money... he bought an infra-red game cam that takes still pics and video. Right now it's aimed at our driveway and cars. So far we've been entertained with pics and video of our cat. Thankfully, no thieves. Hopefully he'll use the camera this fall to find a good hunting spot. We also want to set it up at the cabin. A few weeks ago our neighbor one street over was surprised by a black bear walking down the street, and we see deer tracks in our road all the time. I'd love to see what goes on while we're sleeping. Animal block party it sounds like!

 

[Wifezilla]

Thanks for the dehydrating mushroom smell warning! LOL

 

[valmom]

I'm getting ready to spend money on a dehydrator. I really want to dehydrate stuff this year! I may want a food saver too, to store the dried stuff vacuum packed in mason jars. I hate plastic bags, and our freezer is large, but it's just the bottom of the fridge one.

 

[JRmom]

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my food saver. I can't believe I've gone without one until now. I can't believe how much space it saves in the freezer. Plus I've been vacuum sealing all my dehydrated stuff. Definitely the best 2 gadgets I've used in a long while - well worth the money.

 

[JRmom]

Well, it's that time of summer again.... the garden is on it's last legs. The daily rains have started, plus it has been HOT. My tomatoes may last another 2 or 3 weeks, fingers crossed, but they are showing signs of scald, plus all the water is causing the fruit to split. I spent the weekend pulling out almost everything, but I did plant another round of blackeye peas. They love the hot weather. The sweet potatoes seem to doing very well, but of course they love hot weather also. And I have one HUGE squash plant that got a reprieve. It has another week to do something or it will join it's garden mates in the compost!

Two of my neighbors who have gardens stopped by this weekend... we had a pity party on the state of our gardens. I am seriously thinking of buying some shade cloth to use next summer. It would be worth it to get another month or so out of my tomatoes. I live in a weird part of the state - if there is extreme heat or extreme cold, we get it. Ugh. Not to mention, being in the middle of the state, we don't get the sea breezes. My plan for next spring is to get stuff in the ground 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost date. If I have enough plants started and we do get a late frost, no big deal, I'll plant again. But if we don't, I'll be ahead of the game (and the heat).

Anyway, goodbye summer garden! It's been fun! But now, on to the fall and winter garden planning... turnips, squash, spinach, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, peas.... that's my initial list. Oh, and potatoes. My potato baskets have been a dismal failure... the plants were doing fine, but it appears the heat got to them, so I will try again this fall. Now to plan it out, get my seeds, and figure out when to plant.

Last week I got a great deal on pickling cucumbers. I made 14 half-pints of sweet relish - and the cukes cost me only $2.00. We're not big pickle eaters, but I do love a good sweet relish...yum! I'm planning on going to the produce market again today and see what they have. I LOVE this place. They always have the "staples", tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, but you never know what local stuff might come in day to day. Thankfully the market is close, 5 minutes away, so I can pop in a couple of times during the week. Funny story.... one day last summer, I stopped in and they had TONS of yellow squash, all 3-4", perfect size. I was getting mine and this older couple walked by. The husband asked his wife if she wanted some squash. She looked at them and said NO! They are too small to eat! :/ Poor guy. He's probably been eating tough seedy squash his entire married life.

 

[keljonma]

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my food saver. I can't believe I've gone without one until now. I can't believe how much space it saves in the freezer. Plus I've been vacuum sealing all my dehydrated stuff. Definitely the best 2 gadgets I've used in a long while - well worth the money.

I saw vacuum sealers on shopgoodwill.com recently. A couple of them were being sold as brand new. A few had the attachment for sealing containers too.


ETA: hard to believe you're talking about the end of summer gardening and up here we are just getting teeny green tomatoes on the plants.

 

[Wifezilla]

Even though are climates are so different, parts of my garden also look pathetic and sad. The lettuce has bolted, and so has the cilantro. The pole beans are just starting to take off and so have the tomatoes so that is making me happy. I replanted bush beans (bugs ate my first planting) and cucumbers (bugs got those too). I do have some zucchini and melons that have finally started to go and my pumpkin plants are HUGE. All is not hopeless

As for shade cloth, I have considered getting some from my asian greens. We went from snow to 80 so fast all mine bolted and I didn't get any to harvest. Same with the peas. Mine are pathetic.

 

[framing fowl]

Your market sounds like it has really good prices!

Are you going to do a fall garden?