well, here we are the next morning, back in real time, not here in blog time.
the sauce is now in a smaller pot and is chilled, ready to be put into jars.
and here are the jars! half pints because there are usually just the two of us to cook for.
our high tech metering system to ensure that each jar is filled just so.
the automatic labeler
and the finished products. sauce and tomato chunks and pepper pieces.
i'll add here a garden recap because we use blogger to keep a record of some parts our life.
the tomatoes seemed to ripen a bit late considering the early heat spell we had, but they have come on quite nicely. the purple cherokees are pretty much done. we may get 3 or 4 more. some early girls and beefsteak are still ripening and we will have loads of green ones to ripen inside when the weather turns cold. there are many romas left. maybe we'll freeze some.
our corn was delicious. we could have planted more. the bush beans only gave us about 4 meals. we planted 5 basil starts and all flowered very quickly. there were enough nice new leaves for daily use but mostly the leaves turned bitter. we didn't make any pesto this year. an early potato crop is tasty but has very thick skin. we tried a midsummer 2nd planting. the tops grew well and are just now fading. i've poked into the dirt a bit and found at least one large tater.
the transplanted strawberries grew well but didn't produce many berries, though they were quite tasty. they have gone wild with runners and probably need thinning. aaah zucchini! the heat messed with it a bit but we have had fresh zukes all summer and have thrown away some monsters that seemed to grow huge overnight. there are about two dozen mature butternut squash of various sizes hardening for winter storage.
the shade house was a slow start. we did eat a lot of kale, but the chard leaves got burnt a lot in the early heat. the kale finally got aphids and is gone. the chard pulled through and we have eaten quite a bit. after sowing carrot and beet and onion seeds in the outside beds more than once and having almost no plants come up (save the early beets mentioned below) i sowed some of each in the shade house and now we have all three coming along nicely.
we harvested about 15 pounds of garlic in late june. the onion sets we planted last fall along with the garlic didn't do so well. we did harvest almost two dozen good onions but the majority fell to root rot and tiny worms. an early spring planting of beets gave us many nice meals.
we grew mini red bell peppers, regular red peppers, red rocket hot peppers and jalapenos. they should have been staked. they all fell over and i have added straw mulch under them several times. they are prolific. we have been cooking with the bells and frozen some. i pickled some mini bells and i have made some tasty hot sauce with the red rockets and jalapenos.
even though we have decided quite firmly to move next spring we ordered garlic for fall planting that will mature after we plan to leave. and we'll do onion transplants instead of sets.
best laid plans "gang aft agley" and all that.
I'm hungry after reading that.
ReplyDeletewish we had smell-o-blogging. the aroma wafted all around outside the house, even inside. maybe that would be overkill.
DeleteLove reading your garden posts. While my wife gardens, I grow dirt. I hay about five acres of grass (and weeds). A Kubota tractor with a PTO shredder turns it into a nice compost. Add water and any other carbon matter (wood, garden remnants etc.)... within 36 hours it cooks to about 150F. I turn it two more times, add water and cook again.
ReplyDeleteThe vegetable growers get all the glory, the dirt growers not so much.
oh to have shredder. that would be glorious.
DeleteDon't know why it makes me so happy to be alive and reading about you and robin and your garden, but it just does.
ReplyDeleteThank you (-:
why thank you right on back for being on the other end.
DeleteUhhhhhh....you're making me hungry!!
ReplyDeletemy work here is done!
DeleteSeems to me those jars should ship pretty well. ;-)
ReplyDeletethe freezer night be a bit heavy.
DeleteYikes, you make me feel like a gardening slacker. What a lovely variety of produce you managed this year. Thanks for the garlic reminder. I want to try it this fall.
ReplyDeletegarlic is very easy.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by your garden! We have a "children's garden" that we do with grandchildren and neighbours but after the planting, the children are not around to do too much of the work. Most years I have done the weeding, watering, etc. but this year I backed off and let Fleur-Ange do most of that while I tried to keep up with lawn mowing.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of making tomato sauce but have never tried. Perhaps I should give it a go as we can get lots of organic tomatoes, onions, and garlic from the organic farm where I do volunteer work.
i hope my demonstration wasn't too technical. you'll notice there wasn't an actual recipe. i'm making hot sauce now. more later.
Deleteyou kids are so high-tech. I used to can tomato sauce - you know, hot water bath, etc. No freezer needed. But freezing is easier and faster. It's great to have the sauce all year long!
ReplyDeleteI'm also partial to fried green tomatoes...with lots of Panko breading and garlic and olive oil. YUM.
I'll be sad to see the old place go, but I do understand your need.
come fry us some green tomatoes.
Deletethat is the cleanest freezer i've ever seen in my entire life. and it is filled with stuff you grew!
ReplyDeletethank you. this is only the second year we've used it. there are several bags and jars from last year in a jumble on the lower shelves. didn't want to display that.
DeleteA high tech operation you got going there! We quit growing our own at home, because we just are't there enough. It's pretty easy to find local growers in most places these days. I'll bet that sauce is very tasty!
ReplyDelete