Late August Greenhouse Update
A garden tour wouldn’t be complete without a peek in the greenhouse. L to R, peppers (not visible) indeterminate tomatoes, determinate tomatoes and on the right side miscellaneous beds of greens for fall and winter. At the other end: coriander, chard, slicing cukes, beets, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage, strawberries and a few herbs.
Last planting of roots and cabbage for winter. Some varieties are more susceptible to insects than others. Three kinds of cabbage planted here and only one is bothered by the cabbage moth.
The big story in these parts is enough tomatoes to can!
I started harvesting tomatoes today for processing. Gotta love those joint less stems for fast picking.
Let the roasting begin…
The pepper harvest looks promising too.
And because I couldn’t resist, a picture of Jane (who may be pregnant.)
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Jan pregnant?!!? How’d that happen?
Debra, artificial insemination…
Jane, not Jan ….
where does the time go? I can’t believe Jane might be bred already, Congrats!
Farmer, that’s for sure! She looks like a real cow now. Fingers crossed that she settled.
Guernsey bull? Just curious what you thoughts are on first breeding and expected calf size.
Sheila, low birth weight Hereford. I’m not interested in raising dairy heifers except for myself, and hopefully I won’t need another one for some time
I just recently located your blog and am in love! You are living my dream
We live in Vancouver and have very limited space in my yard. I was lucky enough to find someone to allow me to use some of their land for growing a garden and this year we have pulled in over 350 lbs of produce! You are a true inspiration for me to keep working towards my goal of having our own productive farm.
Jessica, congrats on your produce, it’s a good feeling isn’t it? Thanks for the warm thoughts!
Your indoor and outside gardens are just wonderful. To have so much space would be wonderful, but I don’t think I could keep up with the produce, either care or eating. My tiny floating garden just got highlighted in Our Canada magazine. Come see my post if you have time. – Margy
Margy, can’t wait to see it!
What cabbage varieties do you have that the moths leave alone? I’m drowning in the buggers…
Emily, the moths are loving the savoy cabbage this year, and the lacinato kale. They aren’t touching the others or at least not in a noticeable way. Most of the time the red cabbage is the one that is not bothered. I’m growing:
Red: Ruby Ball
Green: Charmant, Storage #4
Savoy: Melissa, January King (only Melissa is being bothered)
I like your groceries. Whisper in Jane’s ear and tell her she has “that glow”. Tell her not to worry – you’ll be patient with her crazy hormones. Then give her a hug for me.
brenda from arkansas
Brenda, I sure hope you’re right and it isn’t just the “warm” setting on the camera
I’ll hug her extra hard tomorrow!
So amazed at your produce!
Aww, Jane grew up so fast… such a cutie.
Jadey, she is a doll, a big doll.
Lovely produce, Nita. Do you know what causes the leaves on the tomatoes to curl up?
Kristin, no, but I haven’t watered my tomatoes since August 5th so I am expecting them to look a little curled. If you’re watering regularly it may be some kind of wilt, some varieties are more resistant than others. Ironically the one hybrid tomato I grew this year looked wilted all the time and is purported to be resistant to everything…the OP’s all just plugged along.
I absolutely love your photos!! They are always so beautiful.
Our garden did pretty well this year too although it is much, much smaller than yours. Oh well, it provided us with healthy, tasty produce and that is all that matters. We try to add a little more every year so we don’t get overwhelmed
Gorgeous veggie photos and of course gorgeous Jane and possible little Janey too! What is your recipe for roasting your tomatoes and do you can them or freeze or???
Chris, thanks she’s a cutie for sure. I just roast my tomatoes with whatever is on hand, today it ‘s bolted basil sprigs, pureed garlic scapes, and onions with a little olive oil. I run that through the food mill and then reduce it in a crockpot and then can it. It’s pretty good and I don’t have to devote any freezer space to storing toms. Things are getting stuffed to the gills! it does make a sweeter sauce though, you might try a batch and see if that is the flavor you like.
When you are roasting your tomatoes, do you add lemon juice before you can them? What’s your processing time? I’ve been reading and it seems there are a zillion ways to do this; I’d just like a firm answer! Thanks!
Katie, I use citric acid, its easier for me to keep on hand. I process most things in a steam pressure canner, for 10 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. I rarely use a water bath anymore for anything except pickles. I hope that helps
Thank-you….I have more freezer space then cupboard space, so I would just skip the canning process and freeze after the crockpot step? Also, if I wanted the sauce chunky, could I also skip the food mill step…seeing how I don’t have a food mill anyway!
Chris, the food mill removes the seeds and skins. To remove the skins after roasting, you can just pluck them off after roasting, and the seeds are subjective matter. It’s basically up to you. My best advice is to try a small batch and see what you think of taste, consistency etc, before freezing and after. And if you want to be really frugal you can put the skins in a blender or food processor and add them back to your sauce…and it’s all good anyway
Perfect…thanks! I will take your advice and try a small batch and experiment a little! And you are so right….It’s all good!
Much thanks!
I’ve got to try a red cabbage next year then. Have you found any brocolli varieties that the cabbage moths leave alone?
Evelyn, no not yet