On 6/29/2017 12:04 AM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Wed 28 Jun 2017 12:14:34p, George Shirley told us...
>
>> We're making spaghetti sauce from out bucket of mixed tomatoes.
>> Already have it getting ready for the pressure canner. Only made
>> four pints but that will be four different meals for us this
>> winter or sooner.
>>
>> Didn't get enough green beans to can this year, some sort of
>> blight got the beans. Pretty much the same with the cukes. But
>> with the cukes it may have been a blessing. We had a deluge of
>> cukes last year so put up lots of relish and pickles.
>>
>> I suspect the problem with the garden this year is the extreme
>> heat we've been having followed by the January back to back
>> freezes. Hitting 90+ most days and not a lot of rain. Plus we need
>> to amend the whole raised beds again. Most likely will do that
>> this fall and then let it lay fallow until spring.
>>
>> We have a new composter, bought on line, and is working well at
>> this time. With just the two of us there's not much garden waste
>> or otherwise to fill a composter. Mowing every two weeks helps
>> though. I see neighbors putting their mowed grass in a bag and
>> send it off to the dump. If I knew what they put on their lawns I
>> would high jack the bags. <G>
>>
>> George
>>
>
> As you know, we can't have a garden, but we do buy farm grown
> tomatoes at a local stand. I make spaghetti sauce with ground beef,
> sausage, and mushrooms. I freeze our sauce in 2-portion containers,
> as it's usually just the two of us when we have spaghetti.
>
> We have a good source for kirby cucumbers and periodically I make a
> few pints of bread and butter pickles, and also a few ints of garlic
> dills.
>
> We don't really like either frozen or canned green beans, so I buy
> fresh whenever we want them.
>
> That really too bad aboaut the blight you've had this year.
>
If you're a gardener you will attempt to grow something even if it's on
a window ledge. You and I have probably been gardening since we could
walk. Keep it up Wayne.

We live in Harris Cty, TX and the weather for the last year has been
horrible. I think all the bug and blight problems are due to the way the
HOA takes care of the drainage pond and, I suspect, they are using some
sort of bug killer that is not good for gardeners. There's only about
four of us, mostly older people, that garden. The rest are folks that
are gone all day to work and then come home and sit in front of the TV.