Hi all! Just a quick garden update for you today just click on the link below.
Lots to do still but I am pretty excited about how much we have gotten done so far.
Have a great weekend and I’ll update you again soon. -MM
**June Garden Update** click on
It’s been a very long winter here in Western NY! Check out my garden update for March. -MM
The summer has flown by and we are now in the middle of September already!
I never got a second crop of anything in because I have been so busy with work now that the college workers are back in school. It has been a fabulous growing season mostly for us. The wet Spring damaged a lot of our fruit trees but the garden itself produced its heart out for us.
I am having surgery next Tuesday and will have a 10 lb. weight limit put on me for six whole weeks which will drive me nuts at work but will unfortunately cut my gardening season short this year as well.
It’s ok though, like I said our little garden out-performed itself this year and I actually kept up on it for once.
As far as the preserving of all of this lovely produce, here’s where I have been super busy!
With my surgery cutting my growing season short, it also cuts my preserving goals a little short too. I still plan on getting the grapes and the apples done but the beets might have to wait until next year.
I made a gigantic pot of chili using my tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic and will get that in the freezer for easy meals today.
I have also been busy drying herbs. Basil and lemon balm so far. Chives will get frozen, parsley and sage will also get dried as well.
I’ll post one more update sometime in October to wrap up my season.
What have you been up to this summer with your garden and preserving? I would love to hear from you! -MM
This summer is the complete opposite of last summer. Last summer, barely any rain fell, this summer it hasn’t stopped raining for more than two days at a time.
We have lost some things like the cherries, however, most of my plantings have thrived in the rainy hot weather.
The bold items in the lists below are what I have accomplished so far for my 2017 goals.
HERBS
The lemon balm finally sprouted from the seed that I planted back in May. The lemon balm plants I purchased from a nursery however died within a week of planting them. Hey, at least I got something out of all of that, right?
CROPS
PRESERVING
I have tons to go in the preserving category but it is very early in the canning season. Typically, September and October are the busiest months for canning.
I added number 41 and 42 because I have been going nuts with so many squash. I put up 8 lbs of shredded zucchini and 9 quart bags of squash slices that can be used for anything from stir fries to ratatouille to soups in the winter. Yum!
Number 43 I added because I got 16 quarts of strawberries to do something with and this syrup is wonderful on pancakes so I made a double batch!
That’s it for now!
What have you been up to in the planting and preserving dept? – MM
I can’t believe what a difference a few short weeks has made in the garden. Tons of rain and finally some heat have made my garden GROW. I can’t keep up with all the summer squash!
Check out all the greeny goodness in the pics below.
The potatoes are loving their new converted fireplace planting bed
The blackberries are abundant this year. I have never seen them so loaded with beautiful berries.
I only have 6 basil plants but it’s almost too much! (not that I am complaining)
Not only have we had spectacular wins in the garden but we have also had spectacular fails as well. I planted lemon balm and celery and I don’t know if they just didn’t like the soil or maybe each other but they both withered up and died within days of planting them. That was a real bummer I tell ya!
My garlic, my beloved and most anticipated garlic, is failing. I have never grown garlic before so any advice would be welcome but it did not make scapes this year and it’s leaves are already turning brown.
Also we lost all of our sweet cherries to the cold rainy Spring. That’s 3 years in a row we have not had a harvest from these 2 trees. Some re-evaluating will be going on after this season on what to do about it.
And finally our Bosc pear and our apple trees are in trouble due to fire blight which I will catch you up on in another post. Sigh…
On the bright side I have gotten some things preserved and stored in the pantry and freezer for the winter.
7 pints of strawberry syrup, 5- 12 oz. containers of strawberry freezer jam, 5 quarts of sour cherries (which we had abundant crops of despite the sweet cherry fail) and tons of shredded zucchini for cakes and bread all got done last week.
I will give you a more detailed update next time but until then happy gardening! -MM
It’s a fact – I need more planting space in order to meet my 2017 Gardening Goals.
With that being said I got inspired this week to do something with our unsightly old outdoor fireplace. About 15 years ago an apple tree fell on it during a storm and crushed most of the left side. I would have taken the whole thing out but the right side of it has an electrical outlet on it and I didn’t want to mess with having to remove the power line and to tell you the truth it comes in handy when I need to plug in power tools and Christmas lights.
Without a lot of funds and a need for more planting space I decided to gather all of the old bricks that were scattered around the yard and turn them into a potato planting bed.
Potatoes need a deep planting bed. As they grow they need to be continuously buried in order for them to form lots of underground potatoes.
Check out the before and after pics. I even threw in a couple of short videos.
After a couple of hours of work and lots of back filling of a combination of soil and sawdust it was ready to plant. I even planted a few flowers at the base of it. The only cost was the seed potatoes. Everything else I had.
This is a pretty good sized space. I am excited to see how the potatoes do in their new home. As the seedlings start to sprout I will add a few more layers of bricks and more soil until they reach the top of the bed.
I don’t plan on mortaring in the bricks. Right now it is a semi-permanent bed and I plan on keeping it that way.
2017 Gardening Goals: Plant Potatoes– Check!
I’ll keep you updated on this project. Let me know what you think! -MM
It’s been a busy few weeks without a lot of time for updating. I did get my entire garden planted but of course I have run out of room. I thought my husband Scott would just shake his head at me but he surprised me instead by saying “where should we dig new beds?”
I am not sure I can handle more space to fill but I am thinking about it
Below is my goal list for preserving and gardening. Everything in bold is what I have accomplished so far. The only thing I have preserved is 2 batches of Dandelion Jelly and I see I forgot to add that to my goal list!
HERBS
CROPS
PRESERVES
Garlic
Shallots
I named my rooster “Cluck” he guards the garden from vicious predators.
I guess that’s it for now. Have to wait for Mother Nature to work her magic!
See you next time. -MM
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