Busy Busy Busy

The last few weeks have been busy in the yard/garden. I have had 3 truck loads (about 25 yards) of wood chips delivered since the last post. I have been spreading them about after work when time and weather allows. The plan is to cover the side and front yards with chips to hold the weeds in check and to start getting some organic matter built up in the soil. Some chips are reserved for the garden paths as weed control/mulch and for composting.

Piles of wood chips

I have finally picked enough tomatoes at the same time to can some tomato sauce. The wife had purchased some Mrs. Wrights Pizza Sauce seasoning mix, so I used that. Got 4 pints of that made on Thursday.

Then on Friday, Mom and I started doing Citron Preserves. Citron is a watermelon like fruit that the rind is used to make the preserves. I remember eating toast with preserved citron on it when I was a lad of 10 or 12 at grandma's farm. It's basically 3/4 inch cubes of rind boiled in syrup with spices (mainly cloves and/or cinnamon) until the rind turns clear.
On Saturday a batch of apple butter was started in the crockpot. Then some bananas and apple slices put in the food drier. Then another batch of Citron was done for total of 13 pints of Citron and 4 apple butter.

A sampling of the preserved goodies

Sunday Mom raided the garden to share with my sisters in Spokane, scoring 43 lbs of Moon and Stars watermelon (20,13 and 10 lbs), plus 25 lbs of Jalapeno peppers, Banana Peppers, Tomatoes, Cantaloupe,cucumbers, green peppers and carrots. Plus 8 more Citron to make preserves to share with the sister's families.

Trunk full of Goodies

Oops, forgot the dried onions done a week ago, 4 largish onions, coarsely chopped and dried.

Garden On.

Hello World !!

I have the Internet. After 2 weeks of waiting I'm reconnected to the world, Yay.
Though sometimes I think the Internet is a HUGH black hole that sucks up all my spare time and some to that is not spare. But I did miss all your gardening adventures. Got a lot of reading done in the last 2 weeks, several novels, Gaia's Garden, The One Straw Revolution and the first third of Edible Forest Gardens Vol.1.

And speaking of gardening (ha ha), the last 3 weeks the garden has been producing like gangbusters. The Clear Pink Early tomato plant has been making 3-4 ripe tomatoes a day, the cherry (don't remember the variety) has made a few a day with a random yellow pear thrown in. The Eve Purple Ball tomatoes are just starting to bear. Boy, are they good, thick fleshed with few seeds.
The peppers are producing so heavily that the plants fall over.
Next year I will NOT be planting 8 cucumber plants which is 4 to many. Though I think I will plant more than 4 Moon and Star watermelon (nicely sweet,large melons). Have harvested 3 so far, a 20 lb, a 19.5 lb and a 13 lb., with 7 more to come.
The cantaloupe are doing well, 6 picked so far. They are on the smallish side, which is O.K. with me.
Garden On.