Hubby left for work today and I was out in the garden. Today is the day I pick the rest of our broccoli heads and freeze them. From now on whatever grows from the original plant will probably be just enough to keep us in broccoli until this Fall. As I've said before, our garden just did not do well this year and after the rabbits ate our broccoli and cauliflower 4 times over the final plants were so very late they just didn't do well. Even at that though I brought in a half bushel of broccoli. Imagine what I would have brought in if I had had a decent Spring crop?! The thing about late broccoli too is that every bug and worm in the neighborhood wants to feed on this vegetable and when you clean it you've got one major job!!! If it's early broccoli the bugs haven't quite found it yet plus it's growing in suitable cool weather. It makes all the difference in the world! Between bugs and the hot weather I'm lucky we got what we did. And really, that's fine, we've got plenty to get us through the Winter.
We have MORE cucumbers!! Mercy, I can't give those suckers away fast enough and I just simply hate to waste them!
I'll have to pick more tomatoes tonight and probably can them tomorrow. I just have to decide how I want to can them. I think I'll probably can some sauce and wait on the smaller red tomatoes like Abe Lincoln and others that are more uniform to can whole tomatoes. My Romas are not ready yet and that's what makes really good tomato sauce but these that I have will do fine too. I'm also going to dry some tomatoes this year and make Tomato Powder for instant paste or to use in mixes, but that will be later in the year. I've made regular Tomato Paste and it's not hard, just time consuming. You can remove the seeds, leave the skin on or take take the skins off the tomato but you must puree it first and then put it in crockpots and let it cook down or do what I'm going to do this year to save canning jars - make instant!! Check out the recipe on my Recipes Page.
I'm holding out 4 nice red tomatoes for stuffed tomatoes for supper. We love tuna fish salad stuffed in our tomatoes. We wait all year for this dish and thoroughly enjoy it. Tonight's the night!!!
I'm also trying to get caught up on the laundry today as well. It feels as though I am so far behind I will never get caught up. First it was the reception, then the reunion, then my granddaughter and always this time of year - garden, garden, garden!!! I've got tons of flowers in my herb garden that I want to pick and take to the nursing home in town and I need to be drying a bunch of my herbs for this Winter as well. Better get off here and get at it. I know it's an early blog but I've got a full day ahead of me. You all have a great day as well and stay cool!!