So we have lots of little cucumbers in our garden! Well. but, there is a problem... they are bitter too!!!!! Dang heat! I picked some that were about 6 inches long but they are turning yellow and when they turn yellow they are not tasty. Yet agan I looked it up and found out that the heat can make your cucumbers bitter! I am hoping by refrigerating them they will stop this bitterness. I took the ones that I picked and pickled them using this recipe:
2 cups water
2 cups vinegar (I used 3 different kinds)
1/4 cup sea salt (I know I should of used canning salt but I did not have any!)
3 cloves garlic quartered
1 tps black pepper
1 tps dill or one clump fresh dill
1 tps mustard
a couple dashes red pepper flakes depending if you like it spicy
I added every thing in a pot brought it to a boil to make a brine and then pored it over 7 cucumbers so it covered them. I put a plastic cover over it and put a weight on top so the cucumbers stay under the brine. I am just going to leave it in the fridge instead of canning them only because I did not have the cans. I hope it works out so we can be eating pickles in 3 weeks!
I have never pickled anything so this is just on a whim so if you want a real recipe then look it up online :-)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Checking our corn
I was was showing a friend our corn and i could not believe it...
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
They have been hiding!!!
Looking through the watermelon patch i spoted one, then another, then another watermelon! I think this one is ready. ther are suposed to be small.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Cucumber found!
Looking through our cucumbers we found one about as long as my finger! a couple more inches and we get to eat it!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
The giant rises
Our giant pumpkin plant is finaly spreading out and but no fruit, yet...
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
The take over...
Our watermelon is spreading out to the back and front of our garden.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Bitter lettuce...ick!
We had picked some of our lettuce the other day and made a small salad from it and it was so bitter I could hardly stand it!!! So I finally looked online to find out what I did wrong! I found out lettuce is a cool vegetable. So the 110+ degree Vegas weather has made our lettuce bitter! It did say that if you wash it and put it in the fridge for a couple of days then the bitterness might go away.
So I picked them and I washed them and put them in the fridge...now to wait on them.
So I picked them and I washed them and put them in the fridge...now to wait on them.
Our first salad!
it was bitter! I do not know why? Does it have to be "ripe"?
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Cucumber
I turned over our cucumber plant and there are so many little cucumbers all over it! God has truly blessed our garden!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Giant pumpkin flower buds
We have 6 buds off of our Giant Pumpkin plant. They are supposed to get up to 500 pounds each!!!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Watermelon and Cucumber
Next year i will NOT put two vine plants together. I got to keep them seprated...
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Pre Harvest
I went to check out our garden tonight and we found a nice size beet ready for picking! It pulled up so nicely and tasted wonderful! It was great to be there with the kids from seed to stove. As I was cutting it up I could just see and hear how crisp the leaves were! We all got to try the raw beet bulb and leaves...they were good! My kids even liked them! After we cooked it it got even better! They were fighting for a bite of beets! It was great!
We have a couple of beets that look like they will be ready soon. Also our watermelon plants are getting HUGE and they have little watermelons all over them. If all of them make it we will have tons of watermelon. I was glad to see our Giant Pumpkin plant is finally starting to branch out so we might get some to grow.
It looks like all of the plants that we have growing are taking off. We started watering three times a day once it got to be 100+ degrees here in the Vegas Valley. I just do not know about our potato plants I hope we get a crop out of them. The leaves are all brown but the stocks are getting thick and that is where the potato forms so I hope it is going to work out.
We read the story of Cain and Able tonight and it talked about how God wanted Cain to bring him the best of his crops. So when we have our harvest we agreed that we are going to give God back the best of our crops. That was the right story for us to read tonight with a great lesson we were all able to learn. One more lesson from the garden.
We have a couple of beets that look like they will be ready soon. Also our watermelon plants are getting HUGE and they have little watermelons all over them. If all of them make it we will have tons of watermelon. I was glad to see our Giant Pumpkin plant is finally starting to branch out so we might get some to grow.
It looks like all of the plants that we have growing are taking off. We started watering three times a day once it got to be 100+ degrees here in the Vegas Valley. I just do not know about our potato plants I hope we get a crop out of them. The leaves are all brown but the stocks are getting thick and that is where the potato forms so I hope it is going to work out.
We read the story of Cain and Able tonight and it talked about how God wanted Cain to bring him the best of his crops. So when we have our harvest we agreed that we are going to give God back the best of our crops. That was the right story for us to read tonight with a great lesson we were all able to learn. One more lesson from the garden.
Mmmmmmm
We put a little EVOO in the pan. Cut the beet in small strips put it in the pan then diced up the greens and put that on top of the beets. !dded some buttere smoked garlic and two cloves of smoked garlic. it was ssssooo yummy. my kids could not get enough!!!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.9
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Farming in the backyard
We live in the Las Vegas Valley and I have never gardened in my ENTIRE LIFE!!! I started in the beginning of May 2010. I found someone who was giving away broken concrete slabs that we used for a retaining wall about 1 foot high. We used soil and compost mix from a local nursery and added Organic Miracle Grow soil. Then we started sowing our seeds. My two children have and are very involved with our garden. They inspect it and water it daily.
We have a variation of plants such as: pumpkin, Romain lettuce, broccoli, beets, cucumber, watermelon, carrots, tomato, corn, garlic, scallions, for types of potato- red, blue, white, and butter, a fig tree, and we have two grape vines. We are planing to plant more fruiting trees and shrubs as soon as we can. We planted banana trees and blueberry bushes but they did not make it.
I have learned a lot of things in my first few months of farming. Using the word farming is so funny to me but I guess that is what we are doing just on a smaller scale. I have learned that I, personally, cannot plant then move the seedling to a new location. That is how we lost about half of our plants...we were very sad. So next year we will use the egg carton method, I better start saving our egg cartons. I have learned that bugs in our backyard love broccoli something we love too but we may not get any. I have learned patience also from farming because it takes ssssooooooo long...LOL but I cannot wait to eat from the fruits or vegetables of our labor.
I know we will learn so much more from our farming journey. Oh, I just remembered that my last name means Farmer so I guess I can call our backyard a Farm :-)
We have a variation of plants such as: pumpkin, Romain lettuce, broccoli, beets, cucumber, watermelon, carrots, tomato, corn, garlic, scallions, for types of potato- red, blue, white, and butter, a fig tree, and we have two grape vines. We are planing to plant more fruiting trees and shrubs as soon as we can. We planted banana trees and blueberry bushes but they did not make it.
I have learned a lot of things in my first few months of farming. Using the word farming is so funny to me but I guess that is what we are doing just on a smaller scale. I have learned that I, personally, cannot plant then move the seedling to a new location. That is how we lost about half of our plants...we were very sad. So next year we will use the egg carton method, I better start saving our egg cartons. I have learned that bugs in our backyard love broccoli something we love too but we may not get any. I have learned patience also from farming because it takes ssssooooooo long...LOL but I cannot wait to eat from the fruits or vegetables of our labor.
I know we will learn so much more from our farming journey. Oh, I just remembered that my last name means Farmer so I guess I can call our backyard a Farm :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)