Garden ~ Herb Garden

The zucchini is doing well, and cucumbers are just now starting to come in.  Our hot peppers and green bell peppers are behind, and we do not have any broccoli yet (oddly, it's usually the first).  I'll be out picking peas, and maybe green beans today.  It all depends on how well this last small bit of rain did.

Picked our first cucumber this year.  Delicious!  We only had one ripe one, so I am hoping we get many at once to can pickles.

The french breakfast radishes are still producing.  It's crazy.  I know we planted late, but the cherry belle are not even all ready to can relish yet.  I saved the best radish greens for another meal.

Our lettuce is done this season.  We made one last large salad, topping it with radishes and cucumber.  

My garlic is about ready to pull also.  I pulled one yesterday, as it had no green on it, but the bulb is not very big (lack of rain).

I had two elderberry flowers on my trees, so those were dried for future medicinal reasons.  I used two earlier to make tea infusions for curing my sinus infection, and these were the only two left.  I gave them a rinse with cold water, and placed them onto a piece of cardboard.  They dried very quickly, and will be stored in a canning jar.

My mullein plant (in a pot) flowered this year.  It took two years to get this.  I am picking flowers daily now to dry for medicinal purposes.  You can use the flower and the leaf.

Calendula is just now starting to flower as well.  I use those for many recipes.  Did you know you can put calendula petals in your salad?  


Update on the zucchini salsa:  We were discussing the salsa thickness right after I posted my blogpost.  We felt the last batch last year was too thick.  Hubby wanted a bit more liquid, so  am I canning another batch today, leaving the corn starch out, and will not drain the tomatoes. I'll put the updated taste testing on the zucchini salsa post.   I see I have a few jalapeno peppers out in the garden, so I may put more jalapenos in this batch.

If you are wondering, we had almost zero wild black raspberries this season.  We ate about two handfuls, and I did not can jam.  The lack of rain, and high heat here, dried up most of them.  I just hope that doesn't cause next year's harvest to be less.