Garden Update

-

Thanks to a lot of hot weather my garden has exploded!! So have the weeds! Ha, ha.. so ignore them in the pics.. :) my daughter Hannah is coming this week to help me get it under control again.




The tomatoes are growing like crazy and are loaded and still lots of blossoms.. looks like it will be a bumper crop and earlier than normal due to our dry hot summer...
 



The summer squashes are full of blossoms. I can't wait for them!!
 



These are the royal burgundy bush beans.. the blossoms are purple and the beans are purple. The beans are just starting to come on.
 
Love this time of year!!





 
 

Comments

  1. MonicaJuly 14, 2015 at 4:39 AM

    My beans are just starting to come on heavy. Squash is about done. Tomatoes didn't do very well. We had a cool and wet start. They look really bad. It's been really hot here the last couple of days though...
    Hope you and Hannah get it all done! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. aimeeJuly 14, 2015 at 8:47 PM

    Your garden looks GREAT! Here in NW Oregon we have cantaloupe on the vine, tomatoes (a couple have ripened already), all kinds of berries (well, at least the ones that survived our heat wave) and lots of plums! Cooler now--so we can enjoy outside a bit more.
    Blessings, Aimee

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Woman that Fears the LordJuly 14, 2015 at 9:26 PM

    What a huge garden! I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how you are able to keep up with all you do as you get older. Now I feel lazy! LOL!! Beautiful garden!

    ReplyDelete
  4. StephenJuly 16, 2015 at 1:27 AM

    Lord but that looks like a massive garden! I'm completely impressed that it's as weed free as it is!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my
Read more