tomato harvest

Tomato harvest is pretty much underway here. Despite the fact that I have 10 plants less then last year, I have enough tomatoes to harvest some each day. So far I have made soup (and froze some), bruschetta, salad and canned tomato sauce the other night. The sauce should last a few month throughout the winter and the soup, well we will see how long that will last. I still have many tomatoes so will do another round of soup and maybe try my hand on pizza sauce too this year.

Early july in my garden

Early July would be my favorite time of year in the garden.  It’s the kind of moment when everything is falling in place. Pretty much everything is in the ground, the weeds are still manageable (don’t look to where my strawberries are supposed to grow), everything is green and the first harvest is in. I have been busy in the garden, the berries (gooseberries strawberries, raspberries and currants) were full with fruits and I have been busy each morning with harvesting and evenings with prepping the fruits for preserving. I harvested the first peas & blueberries and the means need harvesting too. My blackberry bush is full with fruit that needs to ripen and I had lot’s of kohlrabi & rhubarb. I have a 5 liter bucket full of rhubarb liquor going right now, which will make some nice birthday & Christmas presents once it’s ready.

The little helpers  are not helping much, they need an extra eye to keep them from getting in trouble, so the only time I get work done is if they are asleep. Jacob is practicing walking and is doing really good. When in the house he can walk several meters without help. Every day he is getting more confident (oh and he is so happy to walk, his face just lights up).

We have been at the doctors on Tuesday for vaccinations and Jacob started to scream bloody murder the moment we walked in the door. Then he continued to sob is little heart out, was breaking my heart. All is well not though but that boy has a good memory to even recognize the door. Otherwise we are not doing much, Niki is teething pretty badly and is very cranky due to that. I am just glad they are sleeping ok  (I can deal with 6am wake ups). I can’t see anything but swollen gums but I hope the teeth will push through soon.

 

Garden Update May 7th

The garden is now in spring mode. I have planted 200 bush beans this weekend and also another couple of peas. Two rows of peas are already coming out and I harvested the first radish already. Lettuce will be ready for harvest in a week I guess. The sun is out all day now, so I am using the sprinkler to water the garden most days. There is still quite a bit of land unused but hopefully that will be rectified next week. Oh and I have two little helpers out with me too.

What is going on in your garden?

In the Garden

strawberries & onions planted

raspberry plants

berry bushes

For the last week or so it appears as if spring has arrived. The temperatures are getting warmer throughout the day & the sun is out more and more. I have tried to spend some time in the garden when possible. I have planted some carrots, radish, herbs and salad in the raised beds a couple weeks ago. But didn't manage to do much else yet.

This afternoon I took the boys outside with me and left them in the travel cot, while I worked for an hour, planting a few more strawberries & about 50 onions. Slowly the garden is coming alive. In a few more weeks it will be pretty much all green. Until then I still have lot's to do. I had planned to plant some peas too today but Niki was getting cranky so I stopped after an hour and took the boys on a nice late afternoon walk. 

Are you in the garden yet? What are you planting?

Tomato Sauce

It's that time of the year again and the tomatoes are coming in left, right and center. As far as I am concerned you can never have enough tomato plants ;)

So far I have made salsa and tomato soup but I have not canned any tomato sauce so far. That was something I have rectified this week. A combination of herbs, quartered and pureed tomatoes , as well as some red onion and my tomato sauce was ready to be canned. That will make a great dinner sometimes during the winter.

Garden Update October 2nd

garden

tomato plants

tomato plants

 

newly planted and mulched strawberries

mulched strawberries

weeds in the garden

my sunflower

raised beds

peppers

I guess this will be my last garden update for this year. October has arrived and the nights and early mornings have that fall chill in the air. The afternoons are still gorgeous though. I am working toward getting the garden winter ready. I decided against a fall garden this year. I have been barely able to keep on top of the garden this year and have enough work to do to prepare the garden for winter.

The first half of the garden is already done. I have been digging the soil on that side already, took the old strawberry plants out and planted the new ones. Right next to it I will plant about 50 onions for an early harvest next year (think June/July harvest). The second half of the garden still needs digging though and all the berry bushes need trimming back. 

Right now all I have left for harvesting are peppers and tomatoes (and apples). Depending on the weather I will be able to enjoy the tomatoes until late October. So far I have made salsa and tomato soup and stored them for winter. Tomorrow I plan to process another 5-10 kilos and make pasta sauce, to store for the winter.

All in all, I am more or less satisfied with the harvest this year. I mean between the twins, the weeds, no time and several root voles, I did harvest quite a bit, not as much as in previous years but enough to last us through the winter

Garden Update Septemebr 11th

It was last weekend when fall suddenly appeared. Before that it was still nice and warm, just like summer, but since then temperatures dropped, its raining more, the mornings are cooler and you can feel the chill of fall in the air. I have not posted much about the garden lately. 

Currently I am harvesting and processing cucumbers and tomatoes a few times a week. I also harvested the potatoes yesterday but there is not much more going on in the garden this year. Beans are few and now it's mostly weeds, in the garden :( . Slowly I need to start the process of prepping the garden for fall/winter. I decided against a fall garden this year. I was barely able to cope with garden as it was with the twins so little, so I will just prepare the garden for winter and start new next year.

August = Harvest

August mean harvest as far as I am concerned, there is so much goodness coming out of the garden, that I am hard pressed to keep up with it. My neighbor has early apples that are due to harvest in late July and August, it's my most favorite type of apple and I am always pleased to get a few baskets full. The first round ended up as apple sauce (with no sugar just like I love it and the boys will be able to get some of it too in the winter), the second basket that I received today, will be processed and made to apple pie and the rest will be cut and frozen, so that I can add them to pan cakes, smoothies or apple pie as I wish. 

Cucumbers, oh my the garden is overflowing with them right now. I am having cucumber salad quite often these days and I have made pickled dill cucumbers for the winter too (so far I have four massive glass and stone jars tucked away and there is more to come). I am also freezing some of the cucumbers. I tried freezing them a few years ago and it works really well. I cut them really thinly for salad and then freeze them. When I want to eat cucumber salad in the winter, I prepare my dressing (made of vinegar, oil, water, sugar and dill) and let them defrost in the dressing and it tastes as if it's fresh out of the garden.

I also have beans, potatoes and peas going strong in the garden and being harvested every few days. I should really be getting things daily but I can only focus on preserving one thing a day, for more I don't have time right now