Tomato Time !

The tomatoes are  starting to ripen , we have been eating the little yellow pear tomatoes  just off the vine and in salad, or as a snack, but then the other tomatoes  have started to ripen and it was time to get to work.   So I now have 5 pint jars of salsa and 2 Qt. jars of little roma tomatoes !     I need  a " prep chief",  Nikole  has  an excellent one that she " trained"!!!      I found  a   canned spaghetti sauce recipe in my Taste of Home magazine, I need 25 lab's of tomatoes,   I think I will try it and half the recipe.   I just need to stay on top of the ripening tomatoes. And there will be more tomorrow.     

     I have been digging potatoes ,  carrots , and beets.    I  have made  beet cake and chocolate beet cupcakes.   Both were quite good.  The garlic is  braided and hung to dry, the onions  were dug up and are drying on the picnic table,  I will attempt to braid them as I saw on pintrist, and if it does not work I have mesh bags  I will put them in and hang up . The beans are not doing much , I will make sure that I don't pick up pole beans again.    The kale is doing well, and the cilantro is fading fast.  I have lots of Jalapeño peppers , and some  red and green bell peppers. 

    My pumpkin patch was moved to the pasture by the barn, and I have  only a few pumpkins.  So  next year I will plant them back in the garden and then I will try some back there again. But  after talking with Nikole  maybe I need flowers that will attract  bee's  for pollination. So  I need to start planning  that area. 

Rain bows

A rainbow  from a few nights  ago,  no rain at our house but some lucky person south of us got rain. 

A rainy week,  my new rain barrel is full !

The garden is starting  togrow,  beans,beets, kale, cilantro, potatoes, pumpkins are up.   The green lettuce mix  is  looking good  and I will start to pick that this week.  Also planning to move my row net to the beet rows  just to make sure they will be safe.  So far I have not noticed any evidence that a bunny has been in the garden.

 The herbs from Lorri are  looking great-   the small planter in front with the Thyme and Oregano is growing , it looks  good.   I trimmed  the Sage bush some more,  I trimmed it in early spring but was not sure how much to trim, but  there was a lot of new growth so  I trimmed up the long stems to a more reasonable length.  I will know now for next year that I can cut back farther then I did this year.  The wooden herb planter on deck is doing well also,  the  lemon Basil looked  really sad  for  several days  but is  doing well now,  so  it was just in shock from being moved from it's  safe pot to this bigger  area.  Can't wait to make recipe that calls for fresh basil !! And I have a couple of experiments  that do need it .

  I received  a  wonderful  Mothers Day present ,  a   wooden  rain barrel with a  red pumper  handle.    It  is  really  great,  NO more filling  watering can  with the garden hose.    Brings  back memories  of  my childhood  at  grandma's  house , she had a  water pump in back yard, that as a  child  I used.

 Also  Nikoles  mom Lorri has a  green house  and  has  produced  " beautiful  huge  tomato" plants  , and I was lucky to get some , plus basil, lemon basil, parsley , yellow squash. My garden is complete now,    can't wait to have tomatoes  to eat , can for use in the winter, salsa.  But I know I  will need to wait till July/ Aug.         I had bought tomato plants at a  local green house ,  they were ok  but  no where near as  nice  as  Lorri's.    My store bought ones are  in the back ground with 1/2 gallon milk containers on them.

Also   planted Wild Ginger  that   Brad found  at  St Paul's  farmers  market.  I love  wild ginger , a  very pretty green forest wild flower.      Needless to say I am going  to be  busy the next several weeks  watering all of my plants at least daily.

 So appreciative of my kids   Nikole, Brad, A-Lisa and Richard    Thank you to all of you .

We had  .31 in of much needed rain yesterday,  the grass is really green and we will need to mow  soon, the trees  are getting leaves.    I decided to plant mixed greens  and  carrots , and  next week I will put my row net that Brad and Nikole gave me  over the rows  to further bunny proof .

Always  amazing  how after  being inside  all winter I can't wait to get out there  and plant things  and play in the dirt.   The rhubarb that I transplanted last year all came up but  the plants  are very very small and the rhubarb  stalk is  just  a little  thicker then match stick.  I hope  that during this summer they will continue  to grow  and get bigger.  I will just borrow  rhubarb from my sister.   I like to make  a  pineapple / rhubarb  jam  and  then  Nikole has a  REALLY good   strawberry / rhubarb  cobbler  recipe  and I want to make that at least  twice!   Strawberry shortcake.

I  have been thinking I might go to MN for strawberry picking as  the ones  I picked down here last year  were not at all good.   I also  have used all but  2 packages of Blueberries  so that means  a
 field trip to WI. in July .

Now  just need to wait for about 6 weeks  and I will have  fresh salad greens.

I have  tried again to change the blog name,  I hope I was able to accomplish that this time.

Sort of spring up and down temps,  I am ready to plant my garden but I must wait  a few more weeks.  We borrowed the garden tiller  on Mon. and that all done.  We made it  bigger  by about 4 feet, and also tilled  a small area in " clover pasture " for my pumpkins , then they can go where ever they want.

 My garlic that I planted  last fall is up , but  not all of it made it , so I have soaked  garlic cloves  over night and will plant those  today.
 The tomato and Kale seeds  that I started in the house are growing, getting a second  leaf on the tomatoes so  I will add more dirt to the little cups.

  I am still missing Mars and it has  been almost a year.      We seemed to have been adopted  by a
"cat",  he lays in the sun in barn stalls and runs inside to hide if we get close,  we call it Barney .