Broccoli - when to harvest?

Broccoli is a little tricky. Hot temperatures can make broccoli bolt and grow yellow flowers instead of broccoli heads. Basically you have to pick it when the buds of the head are firm and tight before the heads flower. Cut the stalk of the main head at a slant 5 to 8 inches below the head. Most varieties have side shoots that will continue to develop after the main head is harvested. You can harvest from one plant for several weeks; even from spring to fall as long as your summer is not too hot.
Broccoli can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days. If you wash it first make sure it is thoroughly dry.  I only planted two plants but if you have more and can't eat it all right away broccoli can also be blanched and frozen for up to one year.
I am not entirely sure which variety of broccoli I planted but they are definitely different. I bought them from my dad's green house. I harvested them yesterday and I think I could have done so a week ago.

Squash

I always have more squash than we can possibly eat. Normally I eat it, freeze it or give it away. I had never heard of anyone canning it. I found it on Pinterest  via deborahfantasia.hubpages.com . I even looked it up in the Ball book of Home Preserving which only had winter squash.  I talked to my grandmother and she said they used to can yellow summer squash when she was younger until they bought a freezer. Freezing is not an option for us this year as we have way too much fish, wild turkey and deer. 

How to Can Squash 

Canning squash is really easy.  The reason for this is there is absolutely no pealing, coring, or removing seeds.  All you have to do is wash your squash, now cut it into the size pieces you desire.  Get you jars and lids ready by boiling them or running them through the dishwasher.

Put your cut ups squash into a pot of water and boil for a couple minutes. Using a slotted spoon pull out your squash and put it into your jars.  Make sure to leave about 3/4 of an inch space from the top. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of canning salt to each pint jar and 1 teaspoon for each quart jar.  Now add the boiling water (that you cooked it in) to each jar, making sure to leave about an inch space from the top. You want to make sure to get out any air by using a flat (plastic) knife or something similar.  Now place your lids on and then screw the bands down on jars. Put in your pressure cooker at 10 pounds for 30 minutes for pint sized jars and for quart sized jars for 40 minutes.  While cooling do not pick up jars or move them around. It's best to just leave them overnight on your counter or table top. It is also best when you remove them from the pressure cooker to layer a few cloth place mats or dishtowels under the jars because they can bust due to the temperature change if placed directly on a cold counter.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Ingredients

16

cups sliced small to medium pickling cucumbers (4 quarts)

8

medium white onions, sliced

1/3

cup pickling salt

3

cloves garlic, halved

Crushed ice

4

cups sugar

3

cups cider vinegar

2

tablespoons mustard seed

1 1/2

teaspoons turmeric

1 1/2

teaspoons celery seed

Directions

1. Combine cucumbers, onions, pickling salt, and garlic. Add 2 inches of crushed ice. Cover and refrigerate for 3  to 12 hours.
2. Remove any remaining ice from pot. Transfer cucumber mixture to a large colander set in a sink; drain well. Discard garlic.
3. In a large pot combine sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, and celery seed. Bring to boiling; stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cucumber mixture. Return to boiling. Remove from heat.
4. Pack hot cucumber mixture and liquid into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids and screw bands.
5. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner 10 minutes (start timing when water begins to boil).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

I made a short trip to Crossroads yesterday with my dad to buy strawberries from Merlin Blackwoods farm.  I bought 3 gallons of strawberries for $9.00 each. They are yummy!! I made 6 pints, 14 half pints and 11-4 oz jars of strawberry freezer jam. This is my mother-in-laws recipe

Strawberry Freezer Jam

1 Quart strawberries ( 2 cup crushed)
4 cups sugar
1 box SureJel

Mix berries and sugar well
Separately combine 3/4 cup water, 1 box Surejel and bring to boil, boil 1 min stirring constantly
Stir the Surejel/water mixture into the strawberries and stir for 3 min.
Ladle into jars
Leave at room temperature for 24 hours. Put in freezer.

Raindrops are falling on my head...

Yes I picked blackberries and green beans in the rain at 7 am this morning! Mosquitos eat me alive!! They have been pretty bad. We needed the rain.
I counted 6 gallons of blackberries in my freezer; I'm so over the blackberries. We have been overly blessed with more than we  need.

Clean up and re-plant

My husband and I decided to clean up the garden at the hottest part of the day today. The squash was dying and all the raised beds needed weeding. It doesn't take long to weed them; which is one of the wonderful things about a raised bed. We also have straw covering in all the beds to help cut down on weeds but you can't keep out all of them.
Since we cleared our potato and onion beds we have two empty bed which my husband tilled up. We planted more green beans in the tater bed. We still have green beans on the vine!!!  We ordered Kennebec white potatoes, white onion sets, broccoli seeds and garlic sets from Burgess.com.
The tomato vines have went crazy! I tied the vines to their cages with some old panty hose.  I somehow ended up with a cherry tomato plant and it has gone wild!  We can't eat them fast enough so what I may do is freeze them and make juice later.  We are getting lots of tomatoes and I am going to make vegetable soup using what I can from our garden.  The Japanese eggplant and okra are both coming on good. I picked a lot of okra yesterday; had to wear long sleeves because it makes me itch. Looking forward to tomorrow's harvest!

Lots of goodies from the garden

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many good looking tomatoes! This has been a good year to be a gardener despite the pests.  There is also some Okra in the bottom and I fried most of it for supper then breaded and flash froze the rest.