The victory garden is in full swing. We have daily harvests of zucchini, yellow squash, beans, peppers, a variety of herbs, and cucumbers. As expected, the harvests are increasing in size. Today's harvest (pictured below) produced a sink full of vegetables, strainer full of beans, and one lonely pepper.
I have some good news from the eggplant patch. We officially have a SECOND GENERATION EGGPLANT growing in the garden! Woo hoo! Remember my post, Transplanting and Mulch, about the eggplant that survived winter? That eggplant has grown exponentially and is now giving birth to three eggplants. There are over ten flowers on the plant and I hope to see everyone turn into a delicious eggplant by the end of the summer.
Second generation eggplant
All of the eggplants grown, from seed this season, have begun to push out flowers or fruit. I envision lots of BBQ eggplants and eggplant lasagnas filling my table and tummy later this season. YUM!
eggplants are growing bigger each day
The strawberry pot is doing very well. Each day I pick two to four large strawberries, rinse and freeze them. So far I have 1 1/2 quarts of frozen MVG strawberries. These frozen berries taste great in homemade slushy drinks or strawberry jam. I hope to have the second quart bag filled by the end of July.
Our harvest of plums is not a direct result of my gardening skills. My family harvest the plums out of necessity. In order to keep our back and front yard free from bomb dropping purple spatters of juice, fruit and seed, we pick and maintain the limbs of the tree that reach over into our yard. The size of the harvest varies depending on the winter rains and maintenance of the tree limbs.
MVG 2012 Plum Harvest
This year's harvest has brought forth a basket full of sweet and tart fruit. In previous years, my family has made plum jam and pies. This year, the harvest will be canned or frozen. My family plans to use the frozen plums to make pies and cobblers. There is nothing better than a warm slice of plum pie or cobbler on a cold winter's night.
There are two types of plum trees reaching over into our yard. The trees have been around for some time. We and the neighbors do not know what type of plums are being produced by the trees. So far the type of plum is a mystery but we definitely know they taste great!
To freeze the plums, peel off the skin, take out the seed and sliced up the plums in any way you like. My mom likes the wedge shape. It does take time to prepare the plums for freezing but the results are fantastic! We currently have 12 cups in 3 quart Ziploc bags. Each bag contains 4 cups of plums or 2 pints. We also peeled, seeded, and sliced over 30 plums to fill a gallon bag Ziploc bag. I will be using this gallon bag of plums to make a plum dessert for the Harvest BBQ. Yum!
Canning plums is a bit more tricky. There are so many varieties of jams and syrups to choose from. I followed the plum canning directions and syrup recipe available through the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The plums were ripe and I did not want to waste time searching for recipes now. I wanted a quick and easy way to preserve the deliciousness of the plums.
Canned plums!
In total, I canned 8 quarts and 2 pints of plums. I used two types of syrup: Heavy and Light. I am very excited to see how each type of syrup interacts with the tart skin and sweet red flesh of the plum. For now I will dream about scoops of vanilla ice cream with a juicy tart plum and pancakes with plum syrup drizzles on top. Mmmmm!
The final result of the MVG 2012 Plum Harvest is:
4 quarts canned Heavy syrup
1 pints canned heavy syrup
4 quarts canned light syrup
1 pints canned light syrup
1 gallon and 3 quarts frozen
We have new visitors to help protect the veggies from hungry predators. The Mantodeas have emerged!
Mantodeas egg sacs
The Mantodeas are mighty warriors. Their first arrival coincided with last season's corn infestation. They are now back and ready to guard the victory garden. Their space sacs landed over two months ago. The sacs laid dormant until the temperature held above 75 degrees. It is rumored that each sac can hold up to 500 eggs. Wow!
Mantodeas on sage.
The Mantodeas nymphs emerged and are now feasting on the vicious leaf eating predators. There have been two sightings. The first sighting was at the corner of Herb Row on the sage plant. The second sighting occurred while picking beans near the bitter melon plants. These warriors can reach 3 inches tall. However, the pictures showcase a nymph half-inch to an inch tall.
Let's zoom in.... hello nymph Mantodea.
I hope to see these beautiful creatures grow and thrive in the garden. Not only do the Mantodeas look visually fascinating but they are excellent at devouring, the equally hungry, victory garden predators.
Big news in the Morrison Victory Garden. We have a new support structure and a few fruit sightings.
pyramid support for melon/zucchini
I finish creating the support for the Crenshaw melon and one of the zucchini plants. I tried my hardest to keep all of the zucchini and yellow squash plants vertical but one zucchini plant is very stubborn. I decided to let the zucchini plant grow horizontal and trail up and down the pyramid support with the melons.
I made the support using two wooden lattices and four wooden posts. I nailed two posts to the shortest sides of one lattice. The posts keep the lattice steady and help maintain the pyramid/upside down V shape. I repeated the process with the two additional stakes and the remaining lattice.
whip-stitching the top seam
I leaned each lattice against each other to make a pyramid shape. The unevenness of the top seam is not an issue. Just use some string and whip-stitch the top seam together. I kept the string tight while sewing up the seam. The tight string keeps the support structure looking like an upside down V. The last thing anyone would want is their vertical support to flatten out by the weight of the plants or fruit. However, this may still happen especially if large heavy fruit grow on the vines. I may consider adding a few strong vertical stakes in the middle of the pyramid if we have an overabundance of zucchini or melons.
July 1, 2012 - Crenshaw melon
As for the melons, there are many flowers and small orbs of fuzzy fruit growing on the vines. The Crenshaw melons are doing the best and will be the first to produce mature fruit. The cantaloupe and watermelon plants are growing but have not reached the same size as the Crenshaw melon plant. Right now most of the Crenshaw melons are small and furry. As the melons mature the fuzz will disappear into a hard rough skin.
Juliet tomato flowers & first tomato of the season (right)
The tomato plants have filled up the red cages. I will be adding the second level to the cages within the week. I noticed a few small green orbs hanging amongst the yellow flowers too. To my surprise, the Juliet tomato plant is the first to push out green tomato. I hope to see many more growing orbs in the tomato plants within the next few weeks.
corn has tassels and silk
The corn is doing the best it can do. I used all of our remaining corn seed to plant this season's crop. The seed was bought from Burpee in 2009. The older the seed, the more likely the seed will not germinate or produced fruit/veggies. I suspected this might happen this season since our corn seeds were a few years old. I was correct in my assumptions. I had to replant corn three times due to lack of germination. I wanted to make sure the rows were full to help with corn pollination. So far, a little more than half of the corn has produced ears. However, many of the stalks are half as tall when compared to our 2011 corn field.
I love our bread and butter veggies from last season. My mom and I snack on them throughout the day. I just take the jar from the pantry and place it into the fridge. A few hours later you have cold, crisp, and sweet zucchini and squash. I have also eaten them as a side dish to a sandwich, a bowl of soup or a soy dog. Either way canning veggies has brought lots of variety to my family's diet.
Zucchini is getting big...yikes!
We also make dill pickles and enjoy eating pickles by themselves or as a side dish to a meal. Dill does not last long in my herb garden and often goes to seed by mid-summer. I wanted to take advantage of the fresh dill while canning my first round of veggies. I searched through my sacred text, Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, and found two recipes that produce canned vegetables with dill.
July 1, 2012 harvest
The first recipe explains how to make dill pickles. I substituted
cucumbers with the three vegetables I have on hand. I like to keep my
canning moving throughout the season and use only what the garden
produces. Making dill veggies allowed me to use most of the dill from
Herb Row and a variety of beans, zucchini and yellow squash from the garden
beds.
Victory Garden 2011 - corn, cucumbers, and zucchini
The second recipe is titled Pickled Garden Vegetables. The recipe asks
for a large variety of veggies, such as carrots, onions, zucchini,
squash, etc. I only have beans, squash and zucchini and found this same
combo worked great with the Bread and Butter Pickles recipe. I used a variety of Burgundy, Blue Lake and Scarlet Emperor beans.
The key to this recipe is to cook your dill with the liquid and add garlic. This is
very different from the dill pickles recipe, which does not include garlic. Additionally, when making dill pickles you
place the dill in the jar with the cucumbers before adding the liquid. I welcomed the variety in cooking procedure and taste. I cannot wait to try my first batch of pickled garden vegetables... mmmm! I can still smell the dill and garlic boiling in vinegar, sugar and salt.
June 30, 2012 canned vegetables
In total, I canned three quarts of pickled garden vegetables and four quarts and 2 pints of dill vegetables. Yeah!
The first canning of the season has successfully added more food and variety to our pantry. My family has begun consuming the remaining jars of bread and butter, dill, and kosher pickles from 2009 and 2010. These yummy pickles will help fuel my efforts in trying new recipes while canning veggies and fruit this season.
