Whew! Gardening!

Well, the garden tally thus far from my five 32 sq. ft. garden plots is as follows:

Freezer, approximately 1 pint each package:

1 - spinach (we ate the rest fresh!)
4 - green beans
2 - baby carrots
10 - beet greens
3 - ground zucchini for bread later

Jars, 1 pint each:

18 - beets
15 - green beans
5 - salsa
10 - bread and butter pickles
10 - zucchini relish
12 - half pints zucchini jam, strawberry flavor

Yet to be harvested:

Corn, more carrots, acorn squash, broccoli, more tomatoes, more cukes, more hot peppers, more onions. more zucchini, more green beans and the rest of the sugar snap peas. In my hurried count of acorn squash babies, I tallied 31. I counted approximately 35 corn stalks taller than me and a dozen or so short ones, with an average of 3 ears of corn on each that will probably be ready in about 10 days... So far I've found takers for the excess zucchini, and I'll have repeat barterers for acorn squash this fall as well. Think I'll try canning some of that later on, too, just to see how it comes out. Beets are all done... finally!!! They're the most work to preserve out of all the veggies except corn, I think. Also netted a couple pints of dried chives and a couple nice volunteer garlics from last year, and should net about a pint of dried sage. The radishes were a bust, next year I'll plant them where there's more sun :)

I'd have more space available if spearmint, cornflowers, sunflowers, hollyhocks and this other interesting flower/weed thing weren't there, but I'm cultivating them to attract more honeybees for good pollination, and because certain veggies appreciate growing next to them. Of course, these are all technically "weeds," and I'm going to have to do some good thinning this fall when I mulch the beds with the pile of maple leaves and other assorted green stuff that I've been letting work since last fall. Got a lot of good stuff going on there. Needless to say, the acorns and zucchinis take up one whole bed, and the tomatoes, peppers and onions use a whole one, as well. I'll have to do some research over the winter to find out which veggies will grow best in the beds that other ones were in this year, for good crop rotation. Will be my third garden here so I want to be aware of soil nutrients next summer.

I thought about putting my flower beds into veggies this year, but I'm glad I didn't. Not enough time in a day to work full time and put up that many veggies (and still have a life!), and no point in having any waste. Not like I'm trying to grow for a farmer's market here!! Just enough to be self-sufficient and have better quality food than what comes in a can from the store, and enough to barter for great things like fresh farm eggs and venison, and some to just share with folks who enjoy the home-canned stuff.

Made a quart of tzatziki sauce with some of the cukes, onions and garlic... was a huge hit and needless to say, it was Greek food for awhile :) Lots of tomato sandwiches and BLTs, too... best summertime snack there is. Anyway, that's the gardening news for awhile, and it's past time to get the rest of the laundry done and get some well-earned sleep. Ta-ta :)