The youngest and I are going to try making our own hot sauce this year. Besides that, just the staples to make our own salsa and enjoy a cucumber, tomato and onion salad. Ordered Walla Walla onions earlier this week. Looking forward to seeing how they produce here.

Our garden isn’t large, quite the opposite actually, (6’x24’). It amazes me every year how much produce we can get out of that small of an area.

Compost has been spread and tilled in. Walla Walla onions have been shipped and should be here this week and will be getting planed as soon as they show up. Such a beautiful day today after lunch, couldn’t waste it by not doing something to the garden.

What do you do with so many tomatoes? We do 4 plants each year and they produce more than the 4 of us can eat. Granted, we only eat them fresh. We don’t can or freeze them.

retired dundo said:

How do you like mountain fresh tomatoes.I planted a few last year and my causin planted 40 I couldn’t believe how good they were and perfectly round not like most big ones that look ugly.going To plant 32 .No cages and put straw under.Still plant 16 earl girls for early eating

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Came home from 2.5 weeks in the UP and WOW has the garden done well. The zucchini and yellow squash are producing well enough to start eating…



Even put some of the squash on the grill for dinner and my wife made bread and muffins too…



Tomato plants are producing well, Walla Walla onions are huge, so many cucumbers that we just pickled 6 quarts.



Our youngest wanted to make his own hot sauce too. He named it accordingly. I think he should have strained it, but he didn’t want to. It’s his so let him experiment too…



I will say that my bell pepper plants are looking bad and producing poorly. Also the lettuce isn’t doing well. Not a big deal as I hate having to eat salad, but I do like bib lettuce to use in place of taco shells. Oh well, it’s a garden to have fun with and help produce products for us and coworkers to enjoy.

Where did you get the jalapeño seed or plants? Those are what I have always tried to grow, but only end up with 2.5-3” at most.

sureshot006 said:

Bad size references. The jalapeños are about 5" long.

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This is a friends recipe for fridge pickles. After 24 hours they are crisp and wonderfully flavored. I do not put the Cayenne pepper in mine. I use this to make 6quart jars and I have to double the brine recipe so I don’t run out of brine.

PunyTrout said:

have you tried soaking the cucumbers in icewater/packed in crushed ice just prior to pouring the hot brine when jarring the pickles? For refrigerator pickles it will keep them firm.

I'm going to try salt brine lacto fermentation this year. I bought a cool glass jar with a one-way gas escape bowl on top to try asian style pickling.

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