Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Picture post

I got my Bountiful Gardens seed order yesterday. That was fast. The seeds look good and there are plenty of them.
I got things like SeaKale, Schizandra,  Serviceberry, Amole and Hawthorn, among other things



My Horizon Herbs order has not shipped yet, i looked up my account and it says backorder.... so i guess i won't know for a while.  I'm a little annoyed, i wish the website was kept up to date better.  If something is unavailable it should not be purchasable until it is ready. Its not a huge problem to me, but i'm just sayin'.....

Shopping bag-full in the fridge



Out in the garden i have more yellow squashes.  I'm still enjoying it but the yearly novelty has worn off.
I need to pick more green beans today and i'm out of room in the freezer so i will eat or give them away.
They aren't producing enough for a big enough canner-load that i'd consider worth the effort.  If i had ripe tomatoes i'd do some cans of beans and some cans of tomatoes in one load.
I have been enjoying the Canning forum at the Ball website.  Its a bit slow there, but the members do answer questions within a day and seem to know their stuff.  They are also patient with multiple questions.

I have an  Artichoke!



And... what is this?



A little closer....


Ooooh!  Its turning color!

I didn't expect Siberia to be the first to start ripening. It was the last tomato seedling i was able to get in the garden and it was not the first to flower. Its also partially shaded from both ends- the corn in the morning and the other tomatoes by the afternoon....

And look at all these green tomatoes!




















Even the Topsy Turvy is putting a real effort forward.



Size comparison with the onions


Hale's Best i think....

Are you ready for some Football?   Almost.


Unfortunately the Pony Yellow cracked,  but there are more.
;;



Surprised this missed my daughter's attention....

Carnival squash


The great pumpkin turning orange


A  Point One cabbage that seems to have fully recovered



Corn silk


And tassels


Siberian Motherwort

The patio set...  sans camp chairs. It was threatening rain so we put them away.  We got those Coleman folding canvas chairs. They are more convenient than non-foldy chairs because we can take them anywhere and they store much easier.

And this is Chuck...  Chuck likes collard greens....

Chuck won't be eating my collard greenss anymore, since he has been relocated to a nice place about 8 miles from here.



Oh, and here's what my hubby calls my Nuclear Reactor

Its the warning stickers that freak him out.


We've had sporadic rain showers but nothing substantial. It has gotten hotter in the last day or so and humidity was really high today. Nothing like the middle of the US is getting.

Still trying to keep up on weeding. That seems to be the way of it this time of year.
The seeds i got from Bountiful Gardens will likely be Wintersown since they are shrubby or hardy type plants.

I need to sort through my collection so i have some idea of what i have going on or else i will end up buying even more seeds....  i can't use them all as it is!


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3 comments:

Faith said...

Oh look! The beans are green and the squash is yellow! LOL

I have a blog I subscribe to. The lady who runs it is so kind. She answers all my canning questions and has become a friend. She's a sister, too!

You might be able to find her on my blog links, but let me check for the name of her blog....

http://www.simplycanning.com/Canning-blog.html

There ya go. She has some great info she has been compiling on her blog that's all about canning.

Oooooooh, nice Artie! I love them and have yet to succeed at growing them. Of course I've not checked mine in weeks, so who knows. Maybe I should run out there and have a look.

I have a green tomato casserole recipe on my blog you might remember. It's pretty good! I'm envious of your tomatoes, they look so wonderful.

The patio set looks great. What a score by your DH. I like the rectangle ones, more room for your stuff.

I think Chuck needs a shave. I'm sure he's off enjoying his new digs, though. You've given him quite the adventure.

Your canner looks heavier duty than mine. How tall is it? I wish mine was tall enough to use as a boiling water bath for quarts.

Nice pics!

~Faith

icebear said...

The specs on the canner are:


* 21-1/2-quart pressure cooker/canner holds 19 pint jars or 7 quart jars
* Made of durable, hand-cast aluminum with attractive satin finish
* Exclusive "metal-to-metal" sealing system for a steam-tight seal; no gaskets
* Geared steam gauge, automatic overpressure release; settings of 5 psi, 10 psi, and 15 psi
* 15-3/8 inches high with 12-1/4-inch inside diameter; made in USA


it was expensive, though Amazon had THE best price i saw anywhere and they shipped the 25# package for free.
I probably won't do a lot of quart jars since i eat differently than my hubby and kids- things like pasta sauce only needs to feed them and a whole quart would waste at least 1 serving every time. But i can do all my pints in this quite efficiently. It has 5 stars in Amazon ratings.
It even came with 2 racks so i can fit three rows of half pints if i like.
There is also no gasket to lose.

Yes, Chuck has a terrible 5-o'clock shadow. *tsk-tsk*
Hubby said he was off like a shot upon release, :o)

Hubby was a little worried i wouldn't like the rectangle but since i was hoping that would be what ge found it worked out great. It also folds up nice for storage. He was also lucky enough to find an umbrella that matches the red trim on our house. So even though its just plunked down in the driveway it looks less odd than it might otherwise.

I was half expecting to get an artichoke this year. The Imperial Star are supposed to- even though the seed company does not promise much for my zone, but it does make me hopeful that i can get a real crop if i store the roots for replanting next spring.

I think i have come across her canning blog through yours before. It was probably shortly after you shared yours and i didn't have an account yet. Thanks for the reminder though, i had her bookmarked but in computer crashes that predate my Delicious account, my marks were lost.

Its all very green and yellow out there. I need to remind myself that this is a journal though and even if it sounds boring to me now, right about midwinter i will be glad to have it to remind me of warmer times and excuses to get outside. My penchant for minutia may carry me through winter quite happily.
I need to make a list of all the things i need to change, discontinue or alter for next year and post that. A year-end summary.
OK, off to find your recipe again and the Simply Canning blog! :o)

icebear said...

oooh, you are so lucky. Woodchucks are like furry mosquitoes, they are numerous and they keep showing up!
*faints*