Harvest is Here! The Garden Experiment at Mabon





Ok - so Mabon is a couple weeks away yet, but I'm feeling it in the air.



The garden has been a constant for me since Vernal Equinox when we planted some seed trays. Through April when the seeds really weren't growing well and I was trying to prepare the garden beds... May/June when things were finally in the ground and growing...


I worried through cucumbers rotting on the vine - didn't get much of a harvest there this year...boo hoo...but got a TON of cukes from the CSA farm share...YAY! Even made some B&B Pickles last weekend...but I digress...


Another problem was that SOMETHING was getting into the garden and eating my beans pepper plants and sweet potatoes and a few tips of the tomato plants.


A few squash rotted on the vines - but I had enough of a harvest that it wasn't a big deal.


The basil was a constant. I planted it early and have been harvesting all summer. YUM.



The tomato plants grew gangbusters and got me SO excited - but one by one each of the beds got too top-heavy and higher than the cages could handle,then toppled themselves...so the beds look a bit unruly, but the tomatoes didn't stop setting....they just didn't get ripe very early either.

Finally, the tomatoes are turning! All of them - not just the store-bought plants, but the stunted ones planted indoors on St.Pats day! So we've got a variety.



In the picture above there are examples of the "better boy" from the Home Depot, and the Green Zebra - yes that green one is RIPE! and some reisentraub and one yellow plum tomato that should really be a pink stripe, but someone forgot to tell it that.



The butternut squash was a volunteer plant from the compost I used in the garden .... The long greenbeans are finally producing - after being planted late and partially nibbled by my pest early-on and I harvest about 4 a week.



I have been picking about a box-full of veggies every couple of days at this point in the season.
So, the experiment is a success - the garden is really bursting its fence this year - I will need to increase my space next year or not try to plant so many things.....

September - Preserves/Garden



Setember...

a pause, for summer to say
an awkward and lingering
good-bye
and for autumn,
sitting on a hilltop,
a jug of fresh cider
in one hand,
a bunch of wild purple asters
in the other,
waiting to say hello
-New York Times

This weekend I made pickles - for the first time ever.......bread and butter pickles from my friend K's family recipie. YUMM! Well - I found out a number of things about canning - it being the first time I ever tried to do it on my own....
1) You need to make sure you have ALL of the ingredients you will need -check and RE-check to make sure!
2) It takes a lot longer than you anticipate - you need to prep all of the food - wash, chop etc...
3) You should really make sure you have all of the equipment you need BEFORE you start
4) Where there is a will - there is a way.

I was at the supermarket EVERY day this weekend - because I'd remember I forgot something for the pickles.... In the end I never could find mustard seeds separately so I substituted pickling spice mix I already had in my cubbord. I also had to add some brown sugar because I ran out of white......I thought I had another box stashed somewhere, but couldn't find it when I was looking yesterday....

The 5lb sac I'd had in the pantry got used up in jelly making with the ladies last weekend. (2nd annual hot pepper jelly making extravaganza - we also made peach-ginger jam and rose petal jelly.)


I also froze some medium heat long peppers stuffed with goat cheese - they'll be an appetizer at some fall/winter gathering....

The tomatoes are also starting to come in - and when I get the chance I'll post a couple of photos of the garden in its current state. Yesterday we noticed a LARGE new addition to the garden - a garden spider - very colorful and very beneficial to the garden, but very scary looking. I'll post a photo of her too....