The end result...

Here is the end result of my pickles. I ended up with 8 pints. One pint would not fit in my canner, so it went straight to the refrigerator (after I tried them, of course!). They have good flavor.

Bread and butter pickles

I am trying to make bread and butter pickles for the first time today. I found a recipe on the internet that looked good. We will see.

I am showing them here covered with ice.

Here is the recipe:
CRISP BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES
Categories: Pickles, Vegetables
Yield: 8 Servings
4 qt Thinly Sliced Cucumbers
8 ea Med. White Onions
1/2 c Pickling Salt
5 c Sugar
1 1/2 ts Tumeric
1 ts Celery Seed
2 tb Mustard Seed
5 c Cider Vinegar
* Onions should be peeled and thinly sliced.
Mix the cucumbers and onions with the salt and 2 quarts of cracked ice and let them stand, covered with a weighted lid, for 3 hours. Drain thoroughly and put the vegetables in a large kettle. Add the sugar, spices and vinegar and bring almost to a boil, stirring often with a wooden spoon, but do not boil. Pack the pickles into hot jars and seal. Makes 7 - 8 pints.

Cherry tomatoes

Finally...I ate my first cherry tomato from our garden today! It tasted so good. Now I have to wait for more!
I received a call yesterday stating that my peaches will be in Monday. I'm so glad that they will be ready before I have my surgery! I was afraid of not being able to help with them. This should be a busy week.

Green beans

We were able to can 17 quarts of green bean today. This was the result of a grocery bag full to start. I was pretty impressed since this was our first picking from a 4x8 foot bed. Our wax beans should be ready to pick now. I never knew until now that wax beans start out yellow. I thought that I had the wrong seed when they started out green!

Garden picks...

Today we picked green beans. Ours are later than everyone else's because we planted so late. I was surprised at the amount of beans that we got from the raised beds. The bed is only 4x8 and we picked a whole grocery bag tonight. We also picked quite a few cucumbers and some peppers. I want to can some pickled peppers. Bill really likes them.
Bill's dad gave us 8 dozen ears of corn this week and we canned creamed corn. Usually we freeze it, but thought we would try canning this year.
I will get some pics up soon....

Weed and weed

I was just reading an article in the paper today about how this summer is such a great one for flowers and gardens. However, that also makes it good for the weeds!
Everyone I have talked to that gardens is having the same problem. The weeds are trying to take over. I think they are growing overnight. We have had a lot of rain coupled with humidity and temps that are pretty reasonable. I guess what grows good flowers and veggies grows good weeds too.
My cucumbers this year are amazing! I don't think that I have ever had such good luck. The cattle panel seems to be working well as a trellis behind the raised bed. Something that I will do differently next year though is plant only one variety in each 8 ft. section. I planted 3 varieties this year and they have grown together so much, I'm not sure that I will know the difference. Live and learn. I will also not plant 2 rows of peppers in front of the cucumbers again. The cucumbers are so bushy that they are trying to overtake the back row.
The raspberries are doing well for the first year that we have picked. We have been gone so much over the weekends though that a lot of them ripened and just fell off to the ground. The funny thing is that our black raspberries were attacked by birds prior to putting up netting. The reds are not really being bothered that we can tell. I don't know why that is.
The wax and green beans are doing well and starting to flower. The farmers that have grown beans in the area have been picking and I could smell them this am when I went outside.
The zucchini and yellow squash seem to be lagging after a rough start.
The onion tops have dried and need to be pulled and the broccoli needs cut.
With all this going on, can anyone believe that I am already thinking about what I can plant for fall?? I saw a post on Skippy's Vegetable Garden that gave a link for when to plant certain crops for fall based on the last frost date for your area. Here it is: http://www.heirloomseeds.com/schedule-2.htm
Good luck!

So long without an update

I cannot believe that I have gone so long without a blog update! We have been having some internet problems, and I have not been able to get on for about a week. The other time is just me being too busy.
I will make an effort to update more often.