Garden Pictures April 2012

The weather has really cooled off but there are a few things "springing" up. Here is a frost guard row cover. There are lettuce plants hiding below!

2012 Garden

A new year and a new garden. This has been a weird weather year in Michigan. A very mild winter, and early warm spring and then killing frost and freeze. Everything is ahead of schedule but the cold has hurt the apricots and maybe more of the fruits. Our cold frame plants are doing well, the cabbage, kholarabi, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and lettuce are doing well. So far we have planted peas, onions, beets, spinach and potatoes in the garden. All are slow coming but the peas and onions have begun sprouting. I planted purple potatoes again this year as I love to make potatoe chips from them!!!

Recipes

We are still eating out of the garden! Tonights menu includes cabbage and apples, pork sausage with cherries, jalapeno and apple,we just dice small and fold into bulk sausage, add thyme, delicata squash and Shawns famous rhubarb pie.
Cabbage and apples
bacon, dice and fry, reserve 1 tbls fat add handful of diced onion, 4 cups thinly sliced cabbage, cook down until cabbabge is reduced by half or so, add 2 diced apples continue to cook down, add salt and pepper to taste, a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup and cider vinegar to taste, dish should be a little tart tasting.

End of the Season

The end of the garden season is her. We picked broccoli and swill chard today and picked the last of the cauliflower and kohlrabi earlier in the week. We had a nice long season. The lemon tree gave us 15 lemons, we have enjoyed lemon meringue pie, lemon cake top pudding, we are making limencello and maybe lemon cookies. The sweet pototoes are curing nicely and we hope they last until the end of the year or longer. We have enjoyed our variety of potatoes, the purple ones make good chips!

The canning continues

It has been a very busy few weeks. We have made sauerkraut, it is curing in a pail in the basement, concord wine brewing in the basement, not to mention the 2 1/2 gallons of concord wine that ended up on the floor so the basement really smells like a winery, oh well.......
We have also made corn relish, grape juice, tomato juice, canned tomatoes, canned plums, my newest creation is stanley prune plum jalapeno jam, it is very good. To make use 2 cups chopped ripe prune plums, 1 cup finely chopped sweet peppers, 1 cup finely chopped hot pepper I use jalapeno and serrano, (I put all in the food processor and chop on pulse. Add to a pot, add 1 package pectin, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, bring to a hard boil, add 5 cups sugar bring to a full rolling boil for a few minutes, take off foam and put into hot prepared jars. We love it on crackers with cream cheese, add a littel white wine or rice wine vinegar and use as a dipping sauce for egg rolls, chicken, or use to glaze pork chops, yummy stuff!!! Shawn and I destemmed grapes for more juice, I plan on making salsa and some little plum hot pepper jam. The small plums have a different taste but we will try a batch and see how we like it.

Where did August go?

We've experienced some great weather and garden transitions this month.

The potato towers are gone. Read the Potato Tower Project for an update on how that went. Mixed reviews. The towers are stored away for next year and the ground they stood on planted with mustard greens and two types of kale.

We've also cleared out the "salad bowl" and added compost to get ready for fall lettuce planting. We've actually used three locations for salad greens this year and have kept a steady stream of salad going all summer. Love it. This is my first year being successful with the lettuce - to this degree.

Vertical tomatoes (along the house) have done really well. I might select different plants to put there next year, but the different between these tomatos and the ones located along the fence line are substantial.

The Borghese (sun dried tomatos) are located along the fence line, but are still dong well. I am picking some each and dehydrating them before storing them in Spanish olive oil. Really like these and will plant more next year.

Cucumber climbers were also a good choice. They love the spot and I can't eat them fast enough - I don't can pickles so plant only salad cukes.  Love, love, love the cucumber and tomato sandwiches.

With the garlic gone, we replanted with cabbage, black beans, celery, carrots, sweet peppers, and basil. So far so good. Love the fresh celery for cooking. It's strong and wonderful. Not so sure about the cabbage. Is being attacked. I'll need to read up on this and see how to counter/protect them better.

My first canning experience was 8/28 - tomato sauce and canned corn. All day - sore feet, but appreciate the end result. Yesterday we canned salsa and this weekend, chili sauce and verde sauce.

The canning continues

We are trying to get as much stuff canned as possible before we leave on vacation next week. So far this weekend we have picked and canned wild blackberries. they are really good canned. a neighbor has lots in their woods and let us pick. With the dry weather we were surprised to see so many. They are a little on the sour side but once canned they will be sweeter. We froze a few quarts of green beans and hope to make some saurkraut today. Hope everyone is busy in the garden.