What's growing in my garden right now?

 my asiatic lilies

  baby pumpkin

  day lily

 asiatic lily

daisies

day lily

day lily

echinacea

garlic

Some grapes- yay!

Why are most of my grape plants dying off?

green beans

tomato plants

clematis

asiatic lilies

  peaches

pumpkins

purple day lilies

red asiatic lilies

1st Day of school

I like to take the kids out front and grab a few photos in their new school clothes.  It was a bit windy so I they have on jackets that don't coordinate but that's the way it was so that's how I photographed them.  I'm looking forward to seeing them this afternoon.  

Of course I am busy with this - the largest harvest of cucumbers so far, about 4 lbs. 

And I need to get to work on some more of this - can you see the jar on the far right - half gone already. I can't help but scarf down this salsa.  Love it!

And the very last of the green beans.  I planted more but guess what? The grasshoppers have eaten every last leaf off the new plants.  And they have eaten the carrots to the ground.  And now they are eating my tomato plants.  I'm not sure how to fight grasshoppers this thick.  They are about every 3 inches in our grass.  gross.  Anyway, if you want to preserve green beans in the freezer, blanch them for a minute or two in boiling water.  Then toss them on a cookie sheet and stick them in the freezer.  After 3 hours or so pull them out and stick them in the freezer container of your choice.

Harvest Monday - August 15th

Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and scroll on down to see what everyone else is harvesting.

On the 10th I canned 10 Quarts of green beans.  I'm loving the wide mouth jars for this.  I used my 23 quart Presto Pressure Canner.

On the 12th I harvested the first of my tomatoes and 1 squash.  I have 2 squash plants and they are producing just the right amount for what my husband and I can eat.

Here is today's harvest, August 15th.  There is an infestation of caterpillars.  They have orange red heads and black and grey stripe the long way.  They are all over the house and it was amazing to me that they were on everything and didn't care that it was a jalapeno, pumpkin, or onion.  I'll post a photo when I can calm down enough to get one.  They've just about destroyed my green onions.

If you've never tried a lemon cucumber you need to.  It's delicious! This one was a little bigger than the size of a baseball.

I accidentally got my first heirloom tomato.  Oops.  I love the character. This is a pink brandywine that's still green of course. I'm going to let it sit in the window sill and see if it'll ripen.

 I also did my 3rd green bean picking.  It's slowing down.  They cut the alfalfa in the field next to the garden and the grasshoppers have moved in.  Wish they'd eat the caterpillars instead of the green bean blossoms.  

And this had me super happy.  The jalapenos are starting to look good.  I didn't really need this many but I did chop up 4 and needed 3 for my pico de gallo.  It's heavenly to eat fresh pico from fresh produce.  I'll post photos soon.

I haven't done a total before so I thought I'd start today.  I think it's such a great idea and something I want to include in my garden journal from now on.

Today's Total

Alliums: 5.15 lb

Cabbage: .88 lb

Cucumber: 1.1 lb

Green Beans: 4.41 lbs

Jalapenos: .25 lb

Kohlrabi: .10 lb

Squash: .44 lb

Tomato: 3.7 lbs

Green Beans

I love green beans but this year they are off to a slow start.  I thought I'd take a few photos however because they are pretty. I have 5 rows of Jade bush beans. This year I actually had my health in June so I thinned them to the 3 inches apart.  Much better.  The stems are so much stronger.  They are super tender and meaty.  I don't like the beans that end up being almost hallow.  You have to get to the bulk seed shop early to get these because they go fast. 

I also found out when planting these that you have to be careful when putting the soil on top of the seeds.  Make sure the soil isn't wet and clumpy.  Freshly tilled soil works best.  Just toss it on top of the seeds and make sure they are covered an inch to inch and a half.  Don't step on the soil or even press down on it.  The lighter it is the better.  Successful sprouting will happen if you leave the soil loose and friable. 

You can see they are all kinds of tall and short.  I had to replant the far left row.  Oh and I don't know if you can see the drip line on the far right.  I ripped out the spinach and planted two more rows of beans there.  They are already up since taking the photo and blogging about it. You can click on the photo to see it larger.

Usually I pick them small and freeze them - then saute with minced garlic.  My daughter does not like them that way at all. And they don't always turn out great.  So we tried canning them last year.  Ahhh, much better.  We ALL liked them better that way. I'm really hoping for more than 6 quarts this year.

Green Beans - finally!

I've really been looking forward to these all year.  On Monday I harvested the beans you see in the first photo.  On Wednesday I harvested the beans in the second photo. WOW! Most of them have been blanched, placed in quart size ziploc freezer bags and placed them in the freezer. The rest will end up being canned.

Monday:

Wednesday:

And my kiddos even helped.  My son even joined in because he saw his sister hard at work and he can't be out done! 

The same day I also harvested onions and the last of the garlic.  Some tips on garlic - the larger the clove, the larger bulb it will grow into.  Keep that in mind.  I had the space so I just planted everything I had - big and little.  

This photo just doesn't do this justice.  This yellow onion is HUGE! The red onion is an average size red onion. Anyway, fresh salsa is on the way ... well, if the tomatoes would ripen!