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
