Cucumbers, pesto, and carrots

With most of our summer travelling done, I have been spending more time in the yard. I found three cucumbers where I started investigating why the plants weren't climbing the trellis. Having liberated them from making cucumbers, they have started climbing.

The raspberry bushes have really come into their own in the last few days, with two big picks done and down in the freezer. The newer bushes are growing well on the south side but we'll have to wait until next year to get a good crop off of them.

This heirloom poppy has returned in a couple of different places in the yard.

We've also had two good picks of peas that we have eaten fresh.

Last week, I topped the garlic and turned the scapes and the first flush of basil into pesto.

These twelve frozen pucks will feature on pizzas and pasta this winter.

I also thinned one of the four rows of carrots and washed them up for eating.

The tomatoes seem to have recovered from the rough start this spring and are looking like they will be good producers. Could use a bit more heat, I think.

The squash plants out front have finally started to vine and flower so I'm hopeful for a good harvest of pumpkins and butternut this fall.

Peony jelly

One of my gardening experiments this year was peony jelly. I don't think I have ever made a floral jelly before and we have lovely peonies.

I picked flowers from three different plants (light pink, magenta and dark red) and washed them up.

I then stripped the petals, cover them with four cups of boiling water, and soaked them in in the fridge for 24 hours. I then strained the liquid out and topped it up with water to four cups, added a box of pectin and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and brought it to a boil.

Then I added four cups of sugar, boiled for another few minutes, and then jarred. I decided not to water bath and just store them in the fridge. Tastes like crab apple jelly with a slight floral tone. The colour is amazing.

We were away for a week in Saskatchewan and came home to huge garden growth. I had to cut down the first crop of arugula and use it as a green manure. But the peppers seems to be growing well and starting to produce fruit.

The first few cucumbers are also visible. The melons seems to be growing but no fruit yet.

We have started to harvest the peas and eat them. We are also eating lettuce from the yard.

After a rough start, the tomatoes are also fruiting.

I need to cut the scapes and the basil and make pesto next week. We are also starting to see the pumpkins start to grow with the rain and the heat. They may need some fertilizer. If I get ambitious, I'ma also going to crop some nettle and cook it up.