A Little Bit of Summer

The tomatoes I seeded in pots under lights in the basement on August 10th began producing in November.  The variety is called "Red Robin".  I'll be using some of them in a salad Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Iris in November!

It's 43 degrees today, November 7th, and I sure wasn't expecting to see this gorgeous yellow iris blooming in the perennial garden.  The temperature's expected to go below freezing tonight, so I brought the whole stalk inside. Hopefully, the buds will continue to open.

Praying Mantis

It's been many years since I've seen a praying mantis.  Here's one I found today among the cucumbers and zinnias.

Blackberries

Our small backyard blackberry patch is producing a large crop this year. We're growing the thornless 'Triple Crown' variety. The seeds are large in the berries, so I'll probably strain them out when making jam. 

Herb Planter

I'm growing my herbs in a planter on our patio near the kitchen door.  This year, the planter consists of basil, bay laurel, oregano, chives, rosemary, flat-leaf parsley and orange thyme, and a strawberry plant with runners flowing down the left side. The herbs get lots of sun most of the day and have done well this year, since my new planter has a depth of about 7" and the soil stays moist better than the shallow one I had last year.  All of the varieties of herbs are pretty common, except the basil which is a bush variety that I started under lights a few weeks before planting outside.  It's called Finissimo Verde A Palla, bushy mounds of tiny basil leaves, forming a globe shape that makes it look pruned.  

The planter on the ground to the right of the herbs is growing spearmint.  

The parsley and thyme are out of sight at the back of the planter.

Bread & Butter Pickles

With the heavy rain and wind today, it was a good day to stay inside and make pickles.  I'll always remember my grandmother's Bread & Butter Pickles, one of my favorites from her canning cellar.  We're fortunate to have a good crop of cucumbers (Marketmore 76) this year and I was able to harvest 16 for her recipe which calls for 15 cups of sliced cukes, making 5-6 pint jars of pickles.

Marketmore 76 cucumber variety climbing a trellis

Wash and scrub the cucumbers until they are absolutely clean.  

Then, slice the cucumbers into about 1/4" slices, leaving the skin on. Combine with 1/4" sliced medium sized onions (I used Vadalia, since they're mild) in a large bowl or pan, together with 1/4 cup canning salt and about 6 cups of ice cubes.  Mix up the ingredients real well to coat the cucumber and onion slices and refrigerate for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours, discard the ice cubes and rinse the cucumber/onion mixture in a colandar to remove all of the salt.  Drain well.

In a large pan combine 2-1/2 cups cider vinegar, 2-1/2 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon celery seeds and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric.  Bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves.  To this mixture, add the cucumber/onion slices and combine well.  Bring to a boil and remove pan from heat.

With a slotted spoon, fill hot, sterilized pint jars with cucumber/onion mixture. After all jars are filled, add the vinegar/sugar/spice mixture to the filled jars, leaving about 1/4" headspace in each jar.

Process the jars in a hot water bath canner for 15 minutes to seal.

ENJOY!

Garden Harvest

Today is a beautiful July 17th, sunny and 75 degrees. A perfect day.  We're doing some weeding and harvesting, along with just enjoying the garden.

"On Deck" variety of sweet corn

Close up of ear

Tiger Swallowtail

"Elf" variety of sunflower

Nice, big 5" bloom on "Elf" sunflowers

The "Elf" variety only grows about 2' tall

Patch of Zinnias in vegetable garden

Cantaloupe on trellis

Tiny cantaloupes beginning to form.

Brussels Sprouts forming on stem between leaves.

Side shoots of brocolli that form
after cutting main head.

Today's harvest

Have a great day!

Red Raspberry Jelly

The red raspberry crop is a good one this year, with enough berries to make jelly.  In other years, I left the seeds in the jam, but this year I've strained them and I like the jelly better without the seeds.

After picking and rinsing the berries, I boiled them in a pot for about 5 minutes, then used a regular kitchen strainer to press out the juice, leaving the seeds in the strainer.  I needed about 3 quarts of berries to make 4 cups of juice, a box of pectin, 5-1/2 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and ended up with 7 cups of jelly.

Blooms this week ...

It's a beautiful, sunny day in the garden, so I thought a few photos of perennials that are blooming along the path would be nice.

Astilbe

Coreposis

I ordered three plants of this pinkish purple calla lily (below) through the mail and am happy to see that they have flowered and more flower shoots are growing from their bases.

Calla lily

English Lavender and yellow yarrow

Butterfly weed in full bloom to attract monarchs for egg laying

Astilbe among the ferns

St. John's Wart flowering on both sides of path

Clematis

Foxglove

I've planted a few varieties of low growing miniature hostas along the path and Curley Fries is my favorite!

Miniature hosta "Curley Fries"

Cutting a path through the raspberry patch has made picking them so much easier!

Red Raspberries

Yarrow

Wandering around the garden ...

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

Potato vines growing out of our composter from kitchen scraps!

Asian Lily

Head beginning to form on the broccoli

First cluster of Cherry Baby tomatoes

First cluster of Big Boy tomatoes

We're going to have a big crop of blackberries this year

Common Whitetail Skimmer Dragonfly

Corn in the barrel

Sundrops

Hot & Steamy

It's been hazy, hot and humid for the past few days with no rain, although the forecast shows some relief coming our way.  The hanging planters and pots have to be watered twice a day and the flower and vegetable gardens once a day.  The stock is blooming now and fills the air with its wonderful spicy sweet scent.  We've seen our first monarch in the garden laying eggs on the milkweed and have also been visited by black swallowtails, tiger swallowtails, red admirals and a gulf fritillary. 

I've covered the strawberries planted in the VegTrug with netting, since they're beginning to ripen and  I have to try to outwit the robins and chipmunks.  The tomato plants are about 2-1/2 feet tall with blossoms.  

Associate Gardener weeding and cultivating veggies

Strawberries in VegTrug protected by netting

Monarch Egg on Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa)

Monarch Egg on Common Milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca) 

The zinnias that I started from seed under lights in the house are now blooming.  I put a patch in the vegetable garden to attract bees and butterflies.

Patch of Zinnias

Last year I started Lychnis seeds in the house. After planting outdoors, they developed into beautiful plants, but never flowered.  This year we have flowers and they should seed down and provide new plants next year.  I love their bright magenta blooms on the silvery green foliage.

Lychnis - Abbotswood Rose Hybrid