We are still waiting on our paste tomatoes to turn red, but in the meantime, we are getting ripe beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers etc. We have only gotten about 3 jalapenos so far. We are getting more Anaheim peppers (jokes on us). We'll take it, ha ha! These were planted in another garden area (they were marked as bell peppers at the green house).
If you read about our hot pepper devastation, something ate the tops off all 80-some plants (possibly very small baby rabbits got into the fence). We located a few more plants, but definitely not enough to can cowboy candy, nor can pickled jalapenos, nor have enough for many other recipes we can, but a few is better than none.
We are getting some kale, collards and swiss chard, but not in the amounts I had hoped for. I will plant them much earlier next year, but we plan to get busy with a fall planting too.
Creamy Cucumber Salad. The recipe is from Real Food Dietitians (online). It is a Greek yogurt based dressing. I used fresh dill from our garden. Very good! My husband wanted them peeled.
We are still getting some blackberries. I harvested some new leaves for a refreshing cup of brewed blackberry leaves. It's been the largest berry harvest ever, but we got nothing from the red raspberries. Not sure why, but no blossoms on the red.
Anyway, a friend shared a product she bought on Amazon, that she ties around her gardens to keep the birds out. It's a metallic ribbon on a roll, so you can cut whatever length you want. I tied this into my berry bushes, on it's worked very well.
We did not plant a large amount of green beans, so they are being blanched and put into the freezer this season. I use a "fryer" basket to place in the boiling water to blanch, then place the basket in the ice bath. Works so much easier than trying to spoon it out with a slotted spoon or other strainer.
We are patiently waiting on the paste tomatoes to ripen. We had to plant late due to the cold May. I have only found two tomato worms this season thankfully.
Pickling cucumbers are a bit behind our marketmore (slicing), but they are slowly producing. The hot banana pepper plants we bought after the massacre, are not looking promising, but we are still praying for a harvest.
Rainy days have been busy too, and we are getting more rain. Again.
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