My internal calendar is so completely out at the moment. But, the weather is telling me 'summer is here'. The ground is cracking. The forecasted rain never eventuates. The mint is wilting. The kids are asking for 'Juicies' daily & the towels are piling up from waterfights.
I'm starting with baby steps. I've canned 2 pints of pickled beets, 4 pints of beetroot relish (FYI: I substituted a cup of sugar with a tsp of Matakana organic stevia & it tastes awesome!) & made 2 quarts of sauerkraut. There are a lot more heads of cabbage that are just about ready. Some we will eat fresh & I'm thinking I will shred & freeze some for stirfrys. My 9 year old has zucchini that we've been slicing & freezing. I must look over some of this community's recipes!
Of all the tomato seeds sown, I only ended up with 7 plants (2 varieties), however ... I transplanted 14 that self-seeded from last year!! Not the variety I would've chosen, but I'm sure they'll make great salad tomatoes & relish!
I've never had success with pumpkins or corn, but I have 3 pumpkin plants so far (still hoping to plant more if it's not too late) & 12 ruby red corn for making popcorn. I also have glass gem to plant (again, if I haven't missed the window), luffas (for those great sponges I keep seeing on Instagram) & melons.
The successes & beauty of the garden, the satisfaction of feeding my family healthy, homegrown food & the trickle of produce being stored in the pantry for the off-season, FAR outweighs any failures. I'm in LOVE with gardening. It's only going to get better from here on out. I love the gardening community, willing to share their knowledge & expose their failures so we can avoid the same mistakes.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a blessed, productive & bountiful gardening season.
Michelle
I'm starting with baby steps. I've canned 2 pints of pickled beets, 4 pints of beetroot relish (FYI: I substituted a cup of sugar with a tsp of Matakana organic stevia & it tastes awesome!) & made 2 quarts of sauerkraut. There are a lot more heads of cabbage that are just about ready. Some we will eat fresh & I'm thinking I will shred & freeze some for stirfrys. My 9 year old has zucchini that we've been slicing & freezing. I must look over some of this community's recipes!
Of all the tomato seeds sown, I only ended up with 7 plants (2 varieties), however ... I transplanted 14 that self-seeded from last year!! Not the variety I would've chosen, but I'm sure they'll make great salad tomatoes & relish!
I've never had success with pumpkins or corn, but I have 3 pumpkin plants so far (still hoping to plant more if it's not too late) & 12 ruby red corn for making popcorn. I also have glass gem to plant (again, if I haven't missed the window), luffas (for those great sponges I keep seeing on Instagram) & melons.
The successes & beauty of the garden, the satisfaction of feeding my family healthy, homegrown food & the trickle of produce being stored in the pantry for the off-season, FAR outweighs any failures. I'm in LOVE with gardening. It's only going to get better from here on out. I love the gardening community, willing to share their knowledge & expose their failures so we can avoid the same mistakes.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a blessed, productive & bountiful gardening season.
Michelle
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