Harvest

At the beginning of September, I already had to harvest my carrots, because they were HUGE:



I got a shopping bag full. I eventually put a bunch of them in a bin filled with sand in the garage, but now they're sprouting new stems. That can't be good, but I don't know what to do about it.

I got hardly any tomatoes this year. Maybe it was too cold, maybe it was something else. I should say that tomatoes did grow in my garden, but almost all of them had blossom rot and were spoiled. The night I picked the carrots, I found my first sound tomato:



Remember when the potato beetles ate my potato plants? Well, we had tried to save just a few plants, but they did die. But when I went to pull up the dead plants, I found some good-sized Yukon Golds:



That was a fun find.

My yellow onions did alright. I've never had success with onions before, since the rabbits at our old house would eat them (weird rabbits). But these grew nice and big. My husband built me a little screen-topped table quickly out of some scraps so that the onions could dry properly:



My garden really wasn't very successful this year, and I was a poor gardener. I need to get in the habit of getting out there regularly. Once I get in the garden, I see all kinds of things I want to take care of, and I actually enjoy the work, for the most part. But I tend to put off going out to work in it, and things got out of hand on many fronts this year. Next year, there's always next year... Maybe next year the weather will be better for growing things. But this summer sure was beautiful.

The Pleasures of Sweet Corn

I adore corn on the cob. I have never yet eaten enough of it that I've felt ready to be done with it when September comes.



This year I think the cool, dry weather did a number on how the corn matured. The first corn was ready a little bit late, and then we got some rain and hot weather and practically all of it was ripe at once.

We planted two varieties and we spaced the plantings more than two weeks apart. And then, boom, so much of my corn was suddenly overripe. I was disgusted with myself for having to throw out so many ears because I didn't expect them to be ready yet. At least the chickens ate a bunch, so it wasn't completely wasted. But I could have eaten it!



I did eventually get on the stick and freeze some. I've never done that before because I've never had extra. I got advice from my sister-in-law who does a beautiful job freezing sweet corn. It tastes like August when you eat it in December. I did do some parts of the process differently than she does, so I'm crossing my fingers that it will still taste as good.

She says: Cook it for 5 minutes, then cool it quickly in ice water. Cut it off the cobs and pack it in small freezer bags.

I did some smaller batches that way. But I don't have an ice maker currently, and we don't eat as much corn in one meal as we should.

So when I did a bigger batch, I cooled it with running water. We have a well, so the water gets very cold.



Then I spread it out on a broiler pan lined with wax paper and froze it. Then I broke it up a bit and put it in freezer bags, so that I can pour out as much as I need.



Someday I need to grow more sweet corn and be good about picking it on time.

By the way, our two varieties were from Gurney's. "Gotta Have It" was disappointing: tough and not sweet. "Northern Bicolor Xtra Sweet" was excellent eating but didn't germinate well.