Monthly Archives: September 2010

This carrot’s a winner & the tomatoes rally

These St. Valery carrots have been the best producing carrots of the season. See the little guy at the bottom of the picture? It is another variety planted at the same time as the St. Valery carrots, but that variety hasn’t produced … Continue reading

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Pretty as a pepper

Even though I’ve had a hard time with tomatoes this year due to the cool weather, I’ve had good luck with peppers. For the last couple of years I’ve been growing peppers in the greenhouse in hanging planters and have … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking & food preservation, Gardening | Tagged | 8 Comments

Grapes, sauce, and my sunny weekend to do list

As I mentioned in my last post, animal activity can be a good indicator that a crop needs to be harvested – and fast. After harvesting our favorite apple tree last weekend, I went to check on the grapes. Sure … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking & food preservation, Gardening | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Critters are smarter than I am

   Animals know when fruit is ripe. Have you ever waited patiently for a tree full of cherries to ripen to perfection only to walk out one day and find every last cherry on the tree gone? This has happened … Continue reading

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Pears are a pain in the ass

I’ve done a bunch of canning this summer. I’ve canned jam, tomato sauce and soup, peaches, applesauce, and more. This was my first time canning pears. Compared to everything else, the pears were difficult. I bought a box of pears … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking & food preservation | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The canning continues . . .

Today I got out Big Bertha, my All American pressure canner.  I don’t always use a pressure canner when canning tomato sauces, but the tomato soup recipe I was canning today had a few ingredients that aren’t on my usual … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking & food preservation | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Photo album: Garden in September

Here are some pictures from around the garden at the beginning of September: Happy gardening! Sandy

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Red peppers and canned bruschetta

The last few warm days certainly helped the tomatoes in the greenhouse redden up, but only some of them. I still have more green tomatoes than red. That said, I did have enough to make a small batch of canned … Continue reading

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , | 1 Comment