August 1, 2011
Family and Friends,
We've been busy watering, weeding and harvesting. Hope the rest of you are enjoying the fruits of your labors. We have been putting up green beans for the past two weeks. The cucumbers are coming on slowly, but there have been enough to to seven jars of pickles. I use beets raw in our green drink and they are very expensive during the winter. I googled how to freeze beets. I blanched them in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Make sure you leave at least one inch of top on and the root while boiling. You want to retain the color of the beet, because it is loaded with nutrients. From the boiling water you immediately put the beets into ice water. Ideally the skins will slide off. I didn't cook mine long enough, so I had to peel the skins off. Depending on the size of the beet, I quartered them or halved them. Then I laid them on a cookie sheet and froze them for about half and hour. Then I placed them in freezer bags, laying flat and sucked the air out of the bag before closing. Now I will have beets for the rest of the year.
Our broccoli didn't do very well. I didn't get any big heads, but they are producing lots of smaller heads continually. If yours bolted, cut the bolted part off and see if the plant won't start producing smaller shoots. The cabbage grew quickly and we have had beautiful heads. The cauliflower was pathetic. The tight heads we grew were very bitter (too hot). I'm trying a fall crop, but I have no faith in them at all. We are harvesting beautiful egg plants. The fruit is so gorgeous and I have a wonderful eggplant dip recipe and eggplant Parmesan recipe.
I'm sorry I missed posting at the first of July. If you want to plant a fall garden, you should put it in the first of July, except for lettuce, which should go in the first of August. Lettuce will only germinate in temperatures of 80 degrees or less. So you need to germinate the seeds in the house and then move them to the garden. I am also growing spinach, cilantro and a few Chinese cabbage. The lettuce and spinach were fabulous this early summer. It looks like the first planting of corn will be ready in a couple of days. My red potato plants are starting to die back because of the heat. My refuse from canning I'm laying right on my empty rows
I had one tomato plant wilt on me. I pulled it and removed it from the garden in case it is verticillium wilt. My basil has never done so well. I have had enough to make pesto with. While in England we enjoyed pesto made with rocket (arugula). It is a new favorite. It has a nice nip.
Remember to always add organic matter back into your garden throughout the year, or compost it and add it in the fall. Organic material is your soil's favorite friend. Christy