Today’s my day to brag a little.  We finished the last of the canning yesterday which means that within the next three weeks I’ll begin to close down the garden for this year.  I have to say it’s been a great gardening summer with more enough rain to keep the plants happy and a level of production at least 30% better than last year.  This first list is the approximate amounts of veggies we harvested over the last three months.

• 10 – pounds of cherry tomatoes
•   6 – pounds of jalapeños
•   2 -pounds of cayenne peppers
•   6 – pounds of snap peas
•   4 – pounds of black beans
• 30 – pounds of zucchini
•   2 – pounds of kohlrabies
• 50 – pounds of cucumbers
• 4 – pounds of Beets
• 5 – pounds of radishes
• Two additional plantings of lettuce.
• Two additional plantings of snap peas.
• One additional planting of radishes

We then took most of them and processed them into the following list of usable foods for the winter months.

• 10 – pints of hot mustard dill pickles
• 15 – pints of pickled zucchini
• 12 – pints of pickled jalapeños
•   8 – pints of pickled veggie mix
• 24 – pints of hot B&B pickles
•   1 – pint of pickled jalapeño/habaneros
• 13 – quarts of roasted corn/black bean salsa
•   9 – half pints of radish relish
• 18 – large loaves of zucchini bread
•   5 – quarts of pickled kimchi
• 12 – quarts of chili for freezing
• 4 – pounds of kale, frozen

This last list are the herbs I harvested during the Summer to help refill our stocks for winter.  We use a great deal of them in every meal we make and we also supply to to family and friends when requested.  They’re extremely easy to grow and dry and taste great.

•   1 – quart jar of dried oregano
•   1 – quart jar of dried parsley
•   1 – pint jar of dried habaneros
•   2 – quarts of dried chives
•   1 – quart of dried garlic chives
•   1 – pint jar of dried jalapeños
•   2 – quarts of dried kale
•   9 – pounds of dried sunflower seeds
•   1 – quart of dried Cilantro
•   1 – quart of dried Basil

All of this was from a 350 square foot garden.

Gardening is not as easy as most people think but the rewards make it well worth the effort.  My better-half and I really want to know what we’re putting into our bodies. While it’s almost impossible to do that 100% these days, it gives us a little more peace of mind than the average person.  Along with gardening we’ve become two of the biggest pain-in-the-butt label readers anywhere.  It’s something everyone should learn to do because it’s enlightening and at times a little scary.

The better-half has a few batches of jam to prepare in the next few weeks but there’s no rush.  All the necessary berries are in the freezer and can be used at any time. I always look forward to the blackberry jam made from the berries we picked, there’s nothing better.