Sunday, July 22, 2012

Garden Bounty

Ripening and Rooting in the Windowsill
This is my kitchen windowsill, with a few green tomatoes trying the ripen. We had a heavy thunderstorm a day or two ago, and some of my tomatoes were shaken. The basil in the glass jar are being encouraged to root, so I can plant them in small containers for the cooler weather (surely, it will be cooler someday?) to keep fresh basil for eating and garnishing. Through the window to the left, you can see the new 4X4 foot bed I just put in this year, for a fall garden. I can watch the plants and check on things from the kitchen window.

Green Cucumbers and Red Tomatoes
We've been eating off the garden all summer, and right now these are the ripening tomatoes and ready-to-slice cucumbers I brought in earlier this week. I've been making salads using both of them. Last weekend I made a batch of bread-and-butter pickles. I don't make huge batches, as they get opened and eaten pretty quickly. It's almost time to make another batch for the refrigerator. 

Just Picked and Still Ripening
I pick the tomatos as soon as they start showing a little red, because they will finish up nicely in the kitchen. I don't put them in the refrigerator, but leave them on the counter to finish ripening up. Putting them in the refrigerator gives them a "mushy" consistency, and they're just fine on the counter. I pick them because we've been getting quite a bit of rain lately, and that can make them crack if they get too much water while they are trying to ripen. The cracks can let in bad bacteria and they start to mold - so I pick them and leave the stem on, so they can ripen in my kitchen. Also - the local birds can spot them when they start to redden on the vine, and they are VERY interested. I put bird block netting up, but it wouldn't stop a determined bird, I learned that the hard way.
     I'll share more about my square foot garden in some other posts - I'm very happy with the food goodies we've gotten from it this year, even though I planted a little late for this region - the weekend before Mother's Day.

2 comments:

marymc202 said...

All your hard work is paying off--and I do mean hard work. Bet you have some good recipes that would be fun to share, too--like b&b pickles. I want to do a raised bed 4 x 4 garden one of these years--should challenge myself to "gettin'her done" next year for sure. Thanks for sharing when you have such a busy life!

LLYYNN - Lynn Davis said...

It's so fun to go out first thing in the morning and see how the garden is growing. The plants want to succeed, it's amazing how fast they grow.

Right now I'm getting some fresh tomatoes, they're slowing ripening in the garden until I pick them and let them finish on the kitchen counter.