The 2014 Garden

In previous years we have done a vegetable garden and usually by about July the weather is so hot that we usually give up and don't get a whole lot out of the garden. This year we made it a point to really take care of it. We started most of plants from seed. And as with every year we learned a lot and what to do and not to do for next year. 

We tried something different this year with the tomatoes. I decided to use these things call Grow Boxes. I figured that the last 3 years that I have grown tomatoes I may have gotten 10 tomatoes total it couldn't hurt to try something new. I bought 3 Grow Boxes and they recommended that I only put 2 tomato plants in each box, so that's what I did. I did a one box with beefsteak tomatoes, one with plum tomatoes, and the last box had cherry tomatoes. Two of the three worked really well. In fact I'm still getting plum (Roma) tomatoes now in October. I learned a lot by using these boxes and I will be using them again next year for my tomatoes. 

Peppers were another thing that we did this year. We tried several different types of peppers and again I'm still getting peppers in October. We got so many peppers that I had to send Tim to work with them. I did learn that I'm not going to grow as many of a particular type of pepper. Most of the peppers were hot peppers and I have no idea how I'm going to use all of them but I guess I'll figure something out.

I did can most if not all of the peppers that came from the garden. Most of them were pepper medleys because lets be honest, I was kind of over doing them separate. I did do several different type of things with some jalapeños. I made pepper jelly, candied jalapeños, and pickled jalapeños. I can tell you that the pickling recipe that I used is AMAZING!!! I have no idea which one I used but I need to find it because it came out so well. I haven't opened any of the pepper jelly or the candied jalapeños so I don't know what they taste like, but I will keep you posted.

Peach Jam was another new thing this year as well. It came out really well also. I look forward to putting it on hot bread in the winter. I have given some of it away and have had good reviews so far. Next year I do think I'm going to just can some sliced peaches. I think they will be good in peach pie or peach cobbler.

I learned a few things about zucchini this summer. First, kill the squash bugs before they kill your crop. We lost a few plants in the beginning to the devil squash bugs. Tim used an entire bottle of liquid Seven Dust on the plants and that seemed to do the trick. I also froze a lot of the zucchini. Another thing I learned it not to blanch the zucchini before you freeze it. I haven't really enjoyed the end result on that one. I learned that early and towards the end I was just cutting it up and sealing it with the vacuum sealer. I also think that next year I will add some summer squash (the yellow one) to the garden as well. One of our favorite things in summer is grilled zucchini with parmesan cheese. Yum!

These are my candied jalapeños. As I previously mentioned, we haven't tried any of these yet but from what I am told yo are suppose to put cream cheese on a cracker and top with candied jalapeños. It's suppose to have that salty, sweet, with the spice added in at the end. It's something else I'm looking forward to trying once we have a few things around here finished up. 

My red peppers took longer that I had anticipated to come in and my dog, Dakoda, hasn't helped that situation either. We kept wondering why we weren't getting any peppers. Well Dakoda kept pushing the fence down and eating them right off of the plant. He paid for it slightly by eating the hot peppers, thus, causing him to use the bathroom every 20 minutes for about a week. I think he finally learned his lesson. We have to put up a bigger fence next year.

The eggplant has surprised me the best. I have had 3 different batches of eggplant. Its really good too. I really LOVE free food. I think for this last batch I'm going to make eggplant parmesan and freeze it for when my dad comes to visit for Thanksgiving.

I did my first attempt at salsa this year as well. We haven't opened any of the jars that I made yet and I'm hoping that it turned out okay. I'm worried that it doesn't have enough salt in it. The last batch I made we had to mix it with the store bought stuff. I made the canning batch a little different so I'm crossing my fingers that it comes out well. 

This was our first attempt at a potato box this year. Out of the whole box this is all we got for potatoes. Again, another learning experience so we will try again next year. I think we waited to long to plant the potatoes. We need to plant earlier next year I think. I also think that it will help to clean out garden at the end of this year so we don't have to do as much prep to get the stuff in the ground. So far we have done that.

Next year we are adding a few more things to the mix. I think we are going to try and grow corn and do a better job at protecting the brussel sprouts. The white butterflies killed them this year. Next year we have to "tent" them in white screen to keep the bugs at bay. We get better and better each year and I hope that next year will be the best year yet!