It's Spring so Everthing is About the Garden

Even though the highs dip into the 60s and equally lower nighttime lows, I'm keeping my summer my transplant starts outside. A few days of lower temperatures won't affect my Roma tomatoes and okra that much.

I started 60 seeds for Roma tomatoes this year... up from 32. If all of them germinate and produce healthy, robust plants, I should have tomato sauce and diced tomatoes galore to can this year. Or, I'm hoping that's the case. We use far more tomato products than any other vegetable each year. Tomatoes are in everything we love to eat soups, pasta sauces, a plain side dish, chili, and even ketchup for French fries.

Like I said a couple of postings ago, I'm doubling up on planting everything this year.  It was far too scrimpy of a pantry after the garden failure of 2019. I don't ever want my pantry that low ever again. On my fixed income, I can't afford the healthier heirloom organics from the grocery stores. It was hard enough obtaining what I needed for recipes during the store runs/rationing of the Corona virus lock downs. Nope, I'm not going through that again.

This will be the year of heavy harvests and preserving. Even with the cancer surgery (again!) and the treatments, I have no choice. I can see putting the leaf in the table to hold all the pint and quart jars at the very least, not that it's any different during the heavy canning season.

Mother Nature is cooperating with us this year too. I was chasing an escapee chickie baby this week around the wild blackberry thicket this week. All the canes are loaded with blossoms. The bees are busy helping to pollinate them all. I should have gone in there this winter and try to run wires in there, but I didn't. I'll be wearing long sleeves when harvesting these tasty morsels.

I can envision the jars upon jars of jams, syrup, and pie filling lining a pantry shelf with bags of whole berries in the freezer for muffins and cakes. It makes my mouth water just thinking about how good they'll be. And, this thicket is only one of ten around our property. It's the smallest with about thirty canes. This one and the one along the driveway are the only two I can harvest. Mel will eat/harvest the other larger ones along the creek. We just have to beat the birds to them.

.So the summer garden planting has commenced. Here's to an abundant harvest to fill my stores building to over flowing again. May your gardens produce well for you too.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo