We've put up several quarts and pints of bread & butter pickles from the garden this year and gotten good "reviews". The cucumbers are about played out from the heat, but we may get another harvest. We've also gotten lots of cherry tomatoes. I made an antipasta salad for our church potluck lunch, with our tomatoes, basil, onion, capers, garlic, some goat cheese, and summer sausage. Very easy and delicous. We've also made pesto with the basil we've harvested. The regular tomato plants haven't produced anything, but I think they have suffered from the heat and lack of rain, even though we water the garden regularly. We know the garden area is getting plenty of water because the castor bean plants are thriving and blooming. We are also finally getting a good crop of okra and plan on pickling some today. Andy also made some wild sand plum jelly that turned out good.
In the front garden we have rose of sharon blooming, crepe myrtles, white hostas, black eyed susan, some canna lily, and 4 o'clocks. The grasshoppers have been voracious and have eaten some plants down to the ground, but then there are areas where I've got the same plant and the grasshoppers leave them alone. I planted two burning bush plants and only one of them has survived.
Andy and I helped with the grape harvest for Whirlwind Winery last weekend. We haven't heard yet about the amount harvested but should get an email report this week. It looked like a good harvest, though it was earlier than last year because of the heat -- the grapes were starting to dry up. One of the best wines we like from Whirlwind is the Wild Sand Plum and we're looking forward to that vintage this year.
I am chairman of the Cheese Festival Art Show this year and am busy organizing that for Oct. 8-9. I'll write more about that later. In the meantime, September is a good time to come visit us. Give us a call -- /linda
No comments:
Post a Comment