garden abundance

[green soap]

Tomato and pepper abundance with some eggplant and squash. This year varieties - eggplant rosa bianca and thai/Louisiana green, peppers: marconi, ancient, italia, alma paprika, cayenne, padrons, tabascos (shown) and not shown: datils, aji limons, jalapenos. Tomatoes: stupice, black cherries, blueberries, Nebraska wedding (orange) cherokee purple, carbon, montserrat hollow and poma rosa. Oh yes, oxheart and neves azorean red, plus paul robeson. Squashes: burgess buttercup, a white mutation of burguess and an interesting mongrel out of the compost pile. Cukes we planted zagros middle eastern but for some reason got a pickling variety as well....(compost again). We'll eat them all. Save seeds of the worthy specimens too.

 

[LanaBanana]

Wow, I'm impressed. How beautiful!

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[Seawolfe]

Oh my my that is quite the harvest! I've just gotten into canning and I am jealous of your plenty. What will you do with all of that?

 

[Ellacho]

Colorful and beautiful!

 

[navigator9]

OMG, that is a thing of beauty. Do I spy some habaneros in that basket in the lower right hand corner? My favorite!

 

[cmzaha]

Oh my my that is quite the harvest! I've just gotten into canning and I am jealous of your plenty. What will you do with all of that?

Just curious what brand canner you are using. I canned albacore and tuna when I still had my boat and found All American pressure canners to be fantastic. It can also be used as a water bath canner
Green soap, what a beautiful harvest

 

[Seawolfe]

Oh I WISH I had a pressure canner like yours Carolyn. I'm still at the newbie waterbath onlycanninghighacidfoods stage
If I had a pressure canner I would can SO much fish and soup and other things like a proper prairie housewife.

 

[cmzaha]

Oh I WISH I had a pressure canner like yours Carolyn. I'm still at the newbie waterbath onlycanninghighacidfoods stage
If I had a pressure canner I would can SO much fish and soup and other things like a proper prairie housewife.

They are so worth the money. There is or was a lady in Ramona, Ca that sells them. I had a bunch of fresh albie and had to make an emergency run to Ramona to pick up the canner. I originally had one from my Aunt and the seal was not good when I had the albie to put up. Whittier to Ramona is a bit of a trip especially when I always get lost in the Ramona area!! I so miss fresh fish, but do not miss the bills that went with the boat. Today it would cost me over 2K just to fill it with gas for a weekend at San Clemente. Just not much better than fresh canned albie, yellowfin second or both smoked

 

[green soap]

thanks for the nice words!

Oh my my that is quite the harvest! I've just gotten into canning and I am jealous of your plenty. What will you do with all of that?

Lots of tomatoes get frozen directly and used for sauces and salsas all into the winter. Peppers get grilled and frozen, also dehydrated and just eaten in lots of dishes. The winter squash stays good forever and actually improves just sitting around.

OMG, that is a thing of beauty. Do I spy some habaneros in that basket in the lower right hand corner? My favorite!

Thank you! We have a little 'tree habanero' which stays alive and produces again next season after a prune. We are in zone 9 so lucky that way. One could also grow it in a pot and take it inside if the winters are too cold. I have three of them ripe now so time for a salsa.

 

[citygirl]

Wow. Beautiful. Didn't have as much luck. I had a lot of animals come in my yard this year and they ate a lot of my tomatoes and cucumbers :cry:. Hoping I have better luck next year.

 

[Susie]

Beautiful! I had a few tomatoes this year, and just enough Tobasco peppers to make one pint of pepper vinegar. Lots of mint, parsley, and thyme(which I am still harvesting.) I am currently still in a cast, so I am afraid I have missed the window to plant fall tomatoes and cucumbers for this year.(Zone eight) I may get the cast off in time to plant carrots, green onions, and broccoli.

 

[LunaSkye]

Wow. Beautiful. Didn't have as much luck. I had a lot of animals come in my yard this year and they ate a lot of my tomatoes and cucumbers :cry:. Hoping I have better luck next year.

I feel your pain. Years ago, my sibling and I planted some sunflowers in hopes of having sunflower seeds to eat. That would have been the plan had we not lived in a city with a lot of squirrels & birds. We never had a chance.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4866835_make-homemade-animal-repellents.html

This may help you with repelling some of the animals. There are also links for other repellents as well. I have not tried any of them (I'm not much of a gardener), so I do hope they work.

This link looked interesting, but is really for preventing plant diseases:
https://henklesonline.com/Natural_Remedies_to_Pest.html

 

[green soap]

I live in a city with lots of squirrels and birds. We plant sunflowers as 'sacrificial crops'! It gets the pests focused on the sunflowers and they leave the other crops alone. Mustard works the same way, and many others crops like radishes, nasturtiums, etc. If you want sunflowers you just have to plant lots of them!

I have figured 10% loss to pests is a good figure, since it is much less than the tax man collects on your income....... in most cases.

 

[lisamaliga]

Nothing like fresh tomatoes and chilies in salsa and even marinara sauce. Thanks to that picture I'm now craving both Mexican and Italian food!

 

[dixiedragon]

I live in a city with lots of squirrels and birds. We plant sunflowers as 'sacrificial crops'! It gets the pests focused on the sunflowers and they leave the other crops alone. Mustard works the same way, and many others crops like radishes, nasturtiums, etc. If you want sunflowers you just have to plant lots of them!

I have figured 10% loss to pests is a good figure, since it is much less than the tax man collects on your income....... in most cases.

That's a good idea! Does it help protect tomatoes from birds?

 

[green soap]

That's a good idea! Does it help protect tomatoes from birds?

I have not had too much troubles with birds eating the tomatoes but I think it is worth a try!