Ahhh, the bounty of summer

[Gardnr]

27 pints of salsa canned. 6 pints for fresh consumption. Another 3/4 gallon of green beans blanched/frozen. I love harvest time!

[CathyA]

Wow Gardnr........sounds great!

Before I had kids, I canned lots of things, but have gone to freezing mostly now.

My garden was just okay this year. The coons messed up the tomatoes. The pole beans are doing well. My peppers are doing great. My butternut squash only grew 3. One year I had 40! I think too much rain in the spring and then too little rain through the summer has taken it's toll. Most of my stuff is in raised stocktanks, and it dries out pretty fast. (I drilled too many holes in the bottoms). I try to water it every couple of days.......but the plants sure know the difference between ground water and rain water.
I've frozen a bunch of beans. Didn't buy blueberries in quantity soon enough and they sold out. I've made green tomato casserole a couple times. My cherry tomatoes are doing great, in spite of having to share them with chipmunks. The cucumbers pooped out early. We sure enjoyed them though. I've replanted chard and spinach and some lettuce.

Funny......after the coons messed up the tomatoes so badly, we put up a solar electric fence. Didn't have any problems after that. But yesterday, I decided to test the fence, and I could actually hold onto the wire and only faintly feel a zap.........so maybe the coons just left on their own? Now I have to figure out what's wrong with the fence.

Gardnr.......one reason I quit canning was that it was so hard to control the pressure. Do you use a pressure canner or water bath? If you use a water bath, do you adjust the acidity in anything? Thanks!

[nswef]

I've never heard of ground cherries. Do they have seeds?

[iris lilies]

Here is a photo of DH's dried beans for the year.

[catherine]

I've never heard of ground cherries. Do they have seeds?

If they do, they're teeny, teeny seeds. They're like sweet little tiny tomatillos. You take the husks off before eating.


ground_cherries.jpg

[CathyA]

In case anyone is interested........I discovered what my electric fence problem was.............I was wearing tennis shoes when holding the wire. A lady at the local Tractor Supply told me to try it without shoes (if I didn't have a weak heart)........and sure enough .....ZAP!!! I'm glad to know that's probably what has been keeping the coons out.

[CathyA]

If they do, they're teeny, teeny seeds. They're like sweet little tiny tomatillos. You take the husks off before eating.


ground_cherries.jpg

catherine........did you take that picture? If so, it's really nice!

[catherine]

catherine........did you take that picture? If so, it's really nice!

Thanks, but no! Just a Google image.

I can't claim to be as good a photographer as you are, Cathy!

[CathyA]

Thanks, but no! Just a Google image.

I can't claim to be as good a photographer as you are, Cathy!

Aw, thanks catherine......but I just point and shoot! But you did pick out a nice image to post!

[Gardnr]

Wow Gardnr........sounds great!

Gardnr.......one reason I quit canning was that it was so hard to control the pressure. Do you use a pressure canner or water bath? If you use a water bath, do you adjust the acidity in anything? Thanks!

We use a water bath. 30 minutes for salsa. We don't adjust acidity. Tomatoes have plenty and my recipe does call for apple cider vinegar.