Apples and pesto

We're reaching the point where planting decisions are now starting to come back and haunt me.

The grape vine is looking like it will produce enough grapes this year to make a very small batch of jelly.

Jess helped me pick the last of the early apple tree last week.

We had about a third of the tree's production left. I made crisps and such but also cooked a bunch down to make apple sauce.

The extra sauce that wouldn't fit in the canner got turned into apple butter and canned later. I'll probably repeat this with the later tree once we harvest it (probably the last half of September).

Some of the peppers are ready enough to be incorporated in dinners.

The squash are in a race against the front. We might get this hubbard squash off.

The cucumbers were a wash out this year and I'll need to make better planting decisions with them next summer.

A friend gifted me a head of celery. We ate a few stalks and then I dehydrated the rest. It shrinks down to about half of a cup once the water is out.

I also harvested enough of the basil to make some garlic scape pesto to freeze for the winter months.

We've been trying to enjoy the garden as fall sets in and had out first autumn fire the other night. The huge squash patch in the background continues to grow.

There are a couple of pumpkins I'm feeling good about. Maybe also some butternut squash. The vines are sprawling and hiding little pumpkins everywhere, including two that are growing at chest height on raspberry canes.

Today's task is to deal with the first of the tomatoes. We're getting too many to eat but not enough to can (kind of a busy year for tomatoes in my garden) so I'm thinking of freezing them whole or chopped for later processing.

Plums, squash, tomatoes and melons

As we head into fall, the garden is hitting its stride. The sunflower patch is blooming, much to the delight of the bees. I'm hoping the cosmos will also put on a show out by the back gate.

I harvested the last of our plum crop, which was tasty but is mostly encouraging for the future.

We have a couple of squash on the go, including this on giant pumpkin that is presently beachball sized.

We are starting to see signs of a modest tomato harvest (not really hot enough, early enough for a good harvest).

Last week, I had written off the melon crop due to lack of heat. This week, I find seven small cantaloupes  on the vines. I dunno. Fingers cross the frost stays away until October.

I did some carrot thinning and froze a few bags of chopped carrots for use in the winter along with a few more green beans.

The apples are demanding attention and we have been making crisps and such.

I had to call out the reinforcements on the weekend when I made and canned five litres of apple pie filling.

I've also begun digging rough potatoes to eat. Most of the crop can stay in the ground for now.

Now back to apple picking.

Sunflowers, tomatoes, beans

We're in a slow patch in the garden season. The sunflowers are out, finally, however, which is cheery.

Also some of the carrots we missed last year are flowering as we harvest the first of this year's crop.

Jenn and I took a trip to the Devonian Botanical garden and saw some amazing southern globe thistles.

Although we've been eating the beans, we did have enough for me to blanch and freeze some, maybe for Xmas dinner since we didn't have enough of a pea crop to do that this year.

The cherry tomatoes are also starting to ripen.

I picked a few to eat and they were amazingly sweet and tart.

I am coming to terms with the fact that we'll probably only get one lone squash this year (I think this is a giant pumpkin) and maybe no melons. Just not enough heat in July to get the plants flowering fast enough. Oh well!

This week I'm mostly doings one dead heading and watching the apples get bigger and redder. We may need to deal with some of them next week. I also have some dried fruit soaking in hooch to make Christmas cake.

Raspberries, garlic, and saskatoon jelly

As predicted, raspberry production is now a gallon a day. This was a quick pick this morning on one side of the yard. Most of these are going into the freezer for later processing. The rest are getting eaten fresh or given away. We finally finished last year's frozen berries yesterday!!

I noticed that these thorny-assed black raspberries, which I thought I had eliminated, have managed to make a comeback underneath the saskatoon bush. They are tasty (much richer in flavour and not as acidic as red raspberries) but the thorns are horrendous.

The wind has also been beating some of the canes against the fence, leaving CSI-like splatter behind.

Jess was home this week. In addition to picking some berries, she helped me pull the garlic.

We ended up with 90 heads this year, which is enough to get us through the winter and also to have some to give away or barter with.

After they dried enough that I could brush the dirt off, I hung them in the garage to cure. The garage reeks of garlic. As soon as you open the door, you can smell it.

Overall, the size of the heads is much improved over past years. A few years of selective breeding had increased the average head size to at least commercial sized. A few are huge.

The rest of the garden is slowly coming along. We have enough dill weed so I'm letting some of the plants seed, both to give us some dill seed and also to ensure it comes back next year.

Jess did a quick harvest of ripe cherries off the tree. I did a second cull today and, pitted, we have one and a bit cups (which is the first significant harvest we've had). Not bad for year three. I will probably try some cherry tarts to use them up (they are frozen right now).

Part of Jess's job requires seed harvesting. It is berry season up north and they picked dew berries, saskatoons, and wild strawberries last week. Her last shift was processing the berries, basically juicing them to get the seed out so they can dry and be collected. This meant she could bring home some saskatoon juice (it takes a lot of berries to get a litre of saskatoon juice).

There is some much pectin in the juice that it starts to set immediately on its own. We decided to make jelly. I used a crab apple recipe to get to the proportions.

The chunks in the show below are just juice that has gelled on its own.

The flavour is good and we got four small jars plus a bit of excess in the end.

We did. however overcook it, so it is hard to spread. Jenn suggests we ball it and cover it in chocolate to make some kind of bonbon.

The rest of the yard is still blooming. Below are what remains of my lilies after five years of lily beetle infestation. Super pretty for a short time but just too vulnerable to bugs to bother re-establishing any number of them, when dallies grow so well here.

I suspect we'll still be dealing with a raspberry glut next week. The apples are showing encouraging size already, probably a function of the additional rain we've had this year.

Grapes, plums, berries and pie

Summer is moving along and I'm starting to see some fruit. After several years of languishing, the grape vine has sent a goodly number of bunches this year. I may get enough to make grape jelly!

The plum trees we put in two years ago have also set some fruit for the first time and I counted four plums on the bigger trees. We'll see how many make it to autumn.

The raspberry apocalypse has begun and we're starting to pick about half a gallon a day, That will likely ramp up to a gallon a day by next week.

We also have a nice showing of dayliles.

I spent some time this week picking saskatoons. With the rhubarb also ready, Jenn and I decided to make pie.

The results were delicious! And I will be definitely be canning one pie filling this summer for a winter treat.

Jess is also back from the north and has brought with her a litre of Saskatoon juice from rending the berries to extract the seeds. I think we'll make jelly with it.