Garden Update

Well I still haven't made that relish yet, but I did putter around in the garden during the early hours before the heat kicked in.  I've got a little jungle going on back in the garden and will need to clean things up pretty soon in preparation for the next plantings but not quite yet.  The green beans have gone wild with the  TLC (fish emulsion) that I gave them last week.  I harvested about 4 lbs of beans between Friday and Saturday.  I froze 3 quart bags yesterday.

The Thai Eggplant is still being as prolific as ever.  The other eggplants have begun to flower but have yet to fruit (probably the heat).  Thanks Rachel for the great idea of marinating them in Balsamic (yumm).

I harvested the first bell peppers of the year, one out of necessity (sun scald) and two out of greed (I'll be making stuff bell peppers for dinner.  This was from the potted bell pepper that I originally had on the deck but moved to a more shaded area because the sun was kicking the crap out of it.

The 2 singular squash plants are taking over the back end of the garden, so I think they will become casualties of war soon. Once I can't stand to see or taste another squash, made my relish for the season and put away enough for my various fall soups and croquettes.  I'm betting another two weeks and they are OUTTA HERE :).

As you can see, the trellised butternut squash experiment is going very well so far.  I've been tying them to the trellis with garden twine loosely as it grows.   My plan is for it to go up one side then the other and then back over again going through the middle.  We'll see how that works (especially as the fruit becomes heavier and need supporting.

The tomatoes are coming along great.  That new Sioux that I planted before has taken off. It unlike the others has actually been setting fruit at temps about 100 degrees F.  Which is excellent for here in Sacramento.  It is bearing midsize fruit which will be a welcome addition to the huge Kellogg's Breakfast and Pineapple.

(Back Side of Tomatoes)

(Sioux)

(Kellogg's Breakfast)

(Pineapple)

The Chili's are doing ok, the Poblanos are doing much better than my poor jalapenos.  I think the jalapeno is being encroached upon by the basil or is not getting enough water.  I'm going to have to figure that one out by starting out by seriously chopping the Sweet Basil and making some pesto.

(Poblano)

Poblanos are the peppers used for Chile Relleno's and when red they are used for Ancho Chili Powder.

(Jalapeno)

My soy beans are not doing so hot on the back fence.  They have produced beautiful purple flowers but no pods so far.  I'm pretty sure they are not getting enough sunlight in this area.  But since I have never grown them before, I may be expecting a harvest from them too soon.

(Soybeans)


The mixed dry beans that I planted in June are doing well.  I should be able to start harvesting them when my green beans have stopped producing (if I timed it right).

(Misc Dry Beans)

I harvested my red onions and I'm hoping they dry well.  After arguing with my other half about hanging (those dirty smelly onions) in "His" garage, I ended up improvising and handing them in the shade under our deck were they should stay cool and dry. It is advised to lay them out on screens, but 1. I don't have any screens and 2. I don't have anywhere that is shaded that I could lay the screens, so we'll see what happens.

(Red Onions)

So my pain in the butt unidentified beetle is back in my garden.  I had these guys last year and they only hand out on my Collard and Mustard Greens.  I've been unable to identify it because it doesn't match any of the beetles that I've researched that would be interested in greens.  Last year I chopped down the greens to avoid spraying pesticides (insecticidal soap didn't work and burned the greens), and this year I probably will again.  They are better in the cold season any way.

(America's Most Wanted)

(Spicy Globe Basil)

Look at her go!  This basil has more than tripled in size in a little over a week.  I called myself pruning it to get it away from light (the light that is now nearly completely covered and look at it now.  I may need to just move the light or keep trimming ever week.  If you haven't tasted the spicy basil, you need to try it.  It's particular good with chicken and fish and has a much smaller leaf than your other basils so you don't have to chop it so fine, thus controlling the strong flavor.

(Okra)

One thing that I have never been able to grow successfully is Okra. Once again I'm giving it the old college try and see what happens.  A have a couple of pods forming, so keep your fingers crossed.

The little dwarf Meyer Lemon tree I planted last spring, finally has some actually lemons on it.  Dad, I've been giving her a deep soaking like you said and I think Joe is jealous of my tree now.  Hopefully we don't have any sudden wind storms that knock all the leaves and fruit off like last year or snow..like last year (yes last year was pretty freaky weather wise around here).

This Week's Deceased

May the leaf lettuces, broccoli and arugula rest in peace.  Especially since you all went to flower on me and harbored criminals, such as slugs, snails and those little pinchie bugs.  Goodbye and good riddance!

I am now scouring my catalogs planning for my late summer/fall garden.  Luckily for us we have a very very long growing season and won't see frost until maybe December.  

My oh my what shall I plant next?

Balancing Act

Managing my love of gardening and everything food is difficult every year.  There comes a point just about now when working 10 hours a day and coming home to care for the garden and putting away goodies becomes somewhat trying.  Right now I have about 10 lbs of yellow squash needing to be made into relish that I am dreading in the 103 degree heat.  I've lost my opportunity to take the bounty to work and share with my co-workers as today is my day off.  Of course in the midst of all this I need to weed, tie up new tomato vines, prune back one of the squash plants and finally make sure my drip system is still adequately handling the plants as they continue to grow.  Oh did I mention that I still need to do regular every day things like clean house, bathe the dogs, pay bills and shop for groceries?

So, how do you balance your hobbies that are sometimes a chore and your regular chores?  Don't stress whatever gets done gets done.  If the squash don't make it to the relish then they will feed my compost. Oh well I'll wait for the next batch.  If the weeds don't get pulled, they will still be there and bigger and easier to grab next week.  If the house doesn't get cleaned, it will still be dirty tomorrow.  If the dogs don't get bathed they will still be dirty tomorrow..heck they will probably be dirty tomorrow regardless after they roll around in the grass AFTER their baths, lol.

My point of all of this is do the things you enjoy and don't sweat the small stuff.  I used to let my list of EVERYTHING TO DO paralize me into doing nothing and then spend the rest of the time stressing and feeling guilty about what I hadn't done.  Now I prioritize my time and my list, if the world isn't going to come to an end from me not doing it today it may not get done.  Now this is not procrastination, this is managing your priorities.  Today, the tomato vines must be tied up and the watering system needs to be checked because of the heat.  The weeds will wait.  I chose to make relish today because I will enjoy it. 

Bean Discovery

So my mother has just informed me that my mystery beans are not "black eyed peas" as I thought.


She says those are "purple hulls" and of course mother knows best.  Not to mention all the years she dragged me as a kid to go "bean picking" in Patterson Pass farms every season.  Up at the crack of dawn to drive from Oakland to Patterson where my parents, sisters (if my mom could make them go) and I ride  behind the farmers tractor which would drop us off in the field of our choice (usually my mother's).  We would go out into the various fields and pick pounds ( like 25 lbs.) of various fresh beans and sometimes other vegetables and fruits.  Yes, Mom was a little excessive always preparing for "just in case".  Now I'm always putting away for "just in case" :).

    

(Who'd have thunk I would love to garden after all that torture)

We'd usually be done by about 11 am when it began to get warm and would spend the rest of the day shelling and snapping beans and Mom would freeze them.  So as I said Mom should know what the mysterious beans are.  But since I'm hard headed, I still had to check....

Ok, so if they are "purple hulls" then why aren't mine turning completely purple?

So further investigation is necessary here...right bean, wrong color...ok so i'll leave them on the vine a little longer and see what happens.

By the way Purple Hulls like there close cousin the Black Eyed Pea is a southern pea that like the warm weather. According to the University of Florida the 

"Purple Hull Group                                

Seed pods show some purple coloring, either at tip or all over. Seeds may or may not be crowded. Usually white peas with buff, brown, or pink eyes.
Examples: Jackson Purple Hull, Dixie Queen, Herbken, Knuckle Purple Hull, Pinkeye Purple Hull, Purple Tip Crowder, Purple Hull, Big Boy Purple Hull, Coronet, and Crimson."

So, Mom has it, they are a variety of Purple Hull Peas.  But Mothers are always right, right?

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!

On to the next...

Garden Update

The garden is reaching a transition point where I really need to pull up all of the lettuce type plants and plant some hardier things in their place (or not).

Eggplants

(Japanese Eggplant)

Peppers

Ok I have to admit that I ran out of room in the garden and had to plant this bell pepper plant in a pot.  But it's doing great especially since I took it off the deck ( I noticed one of the bells had gotten a bit of sun scald, so I moved it to a somewhat shadier spot).

(Poor Bell outside the garden in a pot)

(Sun Scald - Where the sun has burned the fruit.). This can be prevented by making sure the fruit is well protected wite plenty of leaves and making sure that the plant is well watered so the leaves don't wilt when the sun is at it's hottest.  Sun Scald doesn't ruin the fruit, however that spot is usually mushy and and soft.  I will usually pick the fruit and cut out the soft spot or donate the whole thing to the compost bin.

These peppers can be eaten at any stage.  They will go from green to red (this particular type). The red peppers will have a much sweeter taste than the green.

This little guy looks to be on his way to turning red, so he won't get very big.  But the little ones taste just as good as the bigger ones, so I won't be discriminating in the kitchen.

(Mild Poblano Peppers)  I'm a real wuss when it comes to hot peppers, but I usually grow them to put in my pickles every year because my mom and husband like 'em spicy. No pickles this year so I can grow mild flavored peppers for salsas and sauces that I can eat.

 (Mild Chiles)

Squash

So I made a poor planting decision by planting this squash in front of my cucumber plant.  You can see the cucumber leaves peaking out next to the fence.  I had to make a decision and dramatically cut back this plant although I hated to do it. So what you see now is a quarter of the plant that it originally was. It was also beginning to encroach on my bean plants on the bottom right.

The trellised Butternut Squash experiment still seems to be doing well.

Beans

(Various Shelling Beans - Cranberry, Black Peas, Navy, Edamame etc)

(Soy Beans)

(Green Beans - lettuce in front that needs to be put out of it's misery, and a very vibrant Sweet Basil plant to the far right)

Plants on Their Way Out

(Left to Right - Arugula, Broccoli, Mustard Greens and Collard Greens)  The Collard Greens will be staying

Tomatoes

Even with the late start, the tomatoes are doing well.  They've reached about 6' tall and are doing well with the new staking hybrid system.  I've been using the mini sprayers on the drip line to keep the ground consistently moist while doing a slow deep watering about every 10 days.  I fed them with fish emulsion which I've been doing about once per month.  There are only about 8 tomatoes on the vines and I think this is because the very warm weather we had in the past few weeks. Tomatoes don't really like to set in temperatures over 90 degrees.  Hopefully, the mildness of this past week will make some more of those babies pop up.

I found a nasty horn worm chomping on my plants the other night.  I had seen the signs for a few days but was unable to find the culprit, so I snuck out with a flashlight around dusk and caught him red handed.  Of course I gleefully took out all of my aggression on him.  I realized I should have taking a picture of him before he became a green slimy blob and the after picture was a little too gross to post. So, you'll just have to take my word the he was punished appropriately.

(Horn Worm Damage)

(Horn Worm Damage - branches cleaned of leaves)

I bought this great book the other day called " Bug Off" by Jerry Baker.  It had great natural remedies for getting rid of every critter you can think of.  He has a recipe in the book for a citrus spray for any soft bodied caterpillars, slugs, snails etc.  He says to take citrus peels and boil them in hot water.  Let the solution sit 24 hours and remove the peels from the water. Spray the solution on the plants (not in directly sunlight of course).  I'm going to try this on a test section and see what happens.

On a lighter note the Kellogg's breakfast has a potential two pounder plus hiding in the lower half that is still growing.

(Kellogg's Breakfast)

The Pineapple also has a few nice size ones coming in.

                            (Pineapple)

This is my first time growing the Sioux, so I really don't know what to expect from this guy.  It's supposed to be very heat tolerant, so I'm hoping it will set more midsize tomatoes than the others, but it's been rather disappointing so far.

I'm going to do a little bit a research and see what I can do to help these guys a long.

Preserving Green Beans

I mentioned the other day that the worst part of preserving the garden harvest was preserving in 100 degree weather.  Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and blanch and freeze last week's green beans.  And YES it was 100 degrees outside!

For those of you unfamiliar with this process, here goes.

1. String, snap and wash your green beans as you would if you were preparing to cook them.  Wash them well to ensure no flowers, critters or anything else you don't envision yourself eating get into your batch.

2.  Boil a large pot of water, enough to submerge your beans in with plenty of room.

(My old faithful preserving pot)

3.  Bring the water to a boil

4.  Fill another large pot or bowl with ICE WATER

In order to blanch vegetables you need to submerge them in boiling water until they turn brightly colored (not cooked!).  The vegetables are then quickly submerged in ice water to cool them down quickly.

5. Place the green beans in the boiling water, stir continuously (usually 2-3 minutes)

6. Remove the beans quickly and place them into the ice water, stirring as you add the beans.  DO NOT POUR THE HOT WATER INTO THE ICE WATER WITH THE BEANS!

I love these dip strainers, I use them from everything from frying, steaming or quick straining.  It has a long handle that doesn't heat up.

Notice the Green Beans are now a vibrant green.  you could chose to place the beans in freezer bags and place them in the freezer.

I prefer quick freezing my vegetables so they freeze quicker and can be individual thawed as I often cook for just myself.  Quick freezing also reduces the amount of water in your bags, thus decreasing the chances of your veggies being mushy when you thaw them.  Lastly, quick freezing forms less ice crystals in the vegetables which reduces mushiness and creates a quick protective ice layer over each bean.

To Quick freeze.

1.  Spread the blanched beans on a parchment or wax paper covered cookie sheet in one even layer.

2.  Place the cookie sheets in the freezer for approximately an hour

3.  The beans will be frozen solid and can now be placed in your freezer bags and placed in the freezer.

Get your beans in the freezer immediately and remember to label and date your containers.

So, now you can make any number of servings from your bags without sacrificing freshness.

Oh by the way, I figured out what the mysterious beans are:  I should be ashamed of myself.

BLACK EYED PEAS! or you may know them as Cow Peas.  Every great wanna be farmer has a DuHHH moment and this was mine.

A pleasant surprise since I was regretting not planting any this year..