Monday, October 15, 2012

In the garden - year by year

Several years ago, I bought a 10 year gardening diary with the intent of daily recording  changes in the weather, wildlife visitors and outdoor activities.  Shortly after, we moved to a new home and the book  was packed so I didn't follow through with the plan.  I'm disappointed about that... the best of intentions.

I need to start it again.  Then I would know for sure details like when we first started feeding our little feral cat what day he first showed up on the deck - and when he stayed instead of running away.  Or we'd have we'd be able to track when the first snow fell each year or the day that we saw 4 racoons - and when the baby pheasants show up each season.  With regular recording, we would know the last day of snow, the chores we accomplished in the yard,  the output of our garden every season and so much more about the day-to-day details around our little corner of the world.

I definitely need to try again with my garden journal.  As the saying goes, saying you'll start tomorrow is never starting so I'll start today with the round-up of what I've got out of the garden this year:

Digital supplies from the Alluring Autumn Collection at scrapgirls.com

Garden Bounty 2012

This year, I've so far "put up":
blackberries -  ~ 4 cups frozen + 6 x 250 ml jars of jam
blueberries - ~ 7 cups frozen
green beans - ~ 4kg. frozen + 10 x 250 ml jars of dilled beans
pumpkin - ~ 3 cups of puree (we've eaten two pies and two different loaves)
tomatoes / peppers  - 6 x 500 ml jars of marinara + 5 x 500 jars of garden salsa + 6 bowls of soup
carrots - 3 large containers of soup frozen (several servings already consumed)
squash - 10 x 250 ml jars of squash and onion relish

We ate fresh lettuce almost every day for most of the summer, raspberries and blackberries daily for about 3 weeks and blueberries for about 2 weeks - and beans and carrots that just keep coming.  We also gave away about a dozen squash, probably 4kgof beans, and about 2kg of carrots. 


I still have quite a few pumpkins and squash to process so I've been collecting recipes - and welcome any suggestions.   I've also got about 2 kg more of beans, which I just picked and quite a few more carrots still to use.  I thought that the beans were done because the last batch was not great but they bounced back again, even after frost and despite the fact that their trellis blew down two weeks ago.  Beans are most definitely foolproof - and so tasty.

Do you have garden stories to share?

What are you growing or making from your garden?  What do you recommend growing?  Have you discovered great harvest recipes.  Do tell!!  Share in the comments.

Do you keep a garden journal that shows annual patterns?  Do you have other things that you track through the year?

1 comment:

  1. My husband always plants cucumbers and tomatoes. I love that when it comes time to harvest there is so much that we just have to share it with others. There is so much abundance and it reminds me that God is abundant and gives me so much more that what I need.

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