Peper Jelly

This weekend I had some time on my hands and decided to finally make some pepper jelly for my husband and father-in-law. Well I was nervous as this is not something that I will eat and had never tasted before. I got the recipe off the Ball box of liquid pectin and started on my way. It ended up making way more than number of small jars I had could have used 2 more small jars, but had a large jar on hand and decided to use that. My husband said it taste good and taste similar to what he had when he was in Georgia as a kid. I really enjoyed making it once I got over the scare of the liquid boiling over the pot (all I could see was me in the hospital having to explain....I was attempting to make pepper jelly). Funny now that I look back on it.

Is this Midew? (Update)

Update to Is this Midlew? (Originally posted 07/29/09) Well, I took out one of the plants that looked the worst and replaced it with another plant from a pot that seemed to suck all the liquid from the plant when I watered. Can you believe this is less than 2 weeks later. I already have zucchini (quite a few). I should have some to pick in a week or so. This is amazing. Also, I think by putting in a soaker hose in the raised bed really helped with mildew, since the root of the plant was getting the water and not the leaves.

My Garden-Update

Well over last week, I surveyed the garden more closely since it has been so hot and this being my first year gardening, I wanted to see what type of changes occur during this time.

Keep in mind that I now know how important it is to keep track of dates so you know if things should already be ready, next planting season this will be monitored

Carrots-I decided to pull these to see if maybe I had anything (since it had been a few months since seeding/sprouting, well I have micro mini carrots, none edible. I pulled them all to make room to plant my tomato plants. BUMMER, just like the radishes

Lettuce-Way to hot to continue trying to grow these, so I pulled them and planted another tomato plant in its place.

Lima Beans-Nothing so far, I saw flowers, but no beans have formed. Seems to be the story of my garden. Here is a recent photo of them. I think they may be done for, not sure. I still see lots of flowers, but no beans.

Tomato plants-I have a total of 3 yellow tomato plants that I did from seed, only one lonely tomato is forming. I battle the tomato horn worms daily, you think you picked them all the night before and the next day, BAM you see more. I decided to use a safe caterpillar killer, I know this may affect butterflies, but I am loosing my tomatoes due to the horn worms (I thought by now the birds would have started to eat the worms, but I guess not).


Peppers-My hot and bell peppers have produced all season long. Next season, I won't plant as many, maybe just one plant of each kind. My family don't like green bell peppers that much and the others colors won't be eaten as fast, so I will have to think about the ones to plant.

Strawberry Jam

Last month I tried my hand at doing a little preserving. I took a class in June on preservation/storage of food. I did not have strawberries in my garden, so I picked up some frozen ones, because the fresh I had prior to this were not all that great. I followed the directions on the pectin package by Ball. The process was very easy and fast. After letting the frozen strawberries thaw enough to mash them, it took 30-40 minutes for the whole process and most of that time was letting the mixture in the individual containers set up. The great thing is that they last up to 1 year in the freezer and 3 weeks in the fridge. I have plans for other fruits to make into preserves. You should try it. Since we already had some store bought jam in the fridge, all 5 of the containers went to the freezer. My father-in-law will receive 2 of these.

My Garden-Cucumbers (UPDATE-2)

Update To My Garden-Cucumbers (Originally posted 06/07/09 and 06/29/09) Well I have lost all the cucumber plants as of yesterday the last one died on me. When I started noticing the last one going, I started planting a new large pot with seeds and hopefully I will have at least one edible cucumber this year. If not hopefully in the future planting seasons. Oh my was I hoping to pickle some up. Oh Well, live and learn.

Is this mildew?

Is this some type of mildew? I planted the squash from seed and now I am seeing the white spots on the plants. I thought it was because the leaves are touching the soil, but really am not sure. I have 2 squash plants next to each other and the other one only has a few leaves with the white spots, but this one looks the worst. Are there remedies that I can put together or do I need to buy something from the garden center? Can I pull them and plant something else in that spot or do I have to wait a long time? These are in a raised bed with other types of plants. Also, if the problem was caused because they touch the soil, how can I raise them up without having this be a problem, rocks, etc.? Thanks.

My Garden-Blossom End Rot?

I have been noticing on my peppers (bell peppers too) that some of them have these brown spots and at first I thought that a bug was attacking them, but the problem was very inconsistent. So last night I finally did some research and took these photos. Some people say they think they have sunburn then others say blossom end rot. My only problem is that the brown parts are not on the end, they are sometimes on the middle top, etc. These plants are in a raised bed and due to the weather (41 days of triple digit weather) I have been watering almost every day. In the research I have had people have cut out the brown spots and ate the rest of the plant. My question is, what should I do to stop it, are these still edible? I bought shade cloth and can put that on stakes over the plant if sun is the problem (as I have direct sunlight all day (no trees to shade the plants), if it is a fungus of some sort, what can I buy to stop it? I mulched earlier this year, but it has since flattened out, should I mulch again (I used alfalfa mulch that I got a feed store)? Any information that you may have will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the quality of the photos.