July Week 3

Well this week has been a busy week for the plants. My romaine lettuce is soon going to seed. I am going to save some seeds and see how they do next year. "Cut off the stalks once they flower and then form a fuzzy head similar to a dandelion. Take the stalks indoors or into an outdoor area that is protected from wind and breezes" They will soon be ready for me to save.

I also had to trim one of my basil plants. When the plant has secondary leaves over the first leaves then you cut the first leaves so the second leaves have room to grow. I am freezing them for storage as I have read that that is the best way to save them.

My strawberry plants are now producing small green berries so that is a great sign of berries to come.

The hot peppers are finally starting to go red and the green hot peppers are almost ready to pick.

The Echinacea is getting ready to bloom you can see where it is about to come out. I also have my first cucumber out and there are more on their way. Which means we should be able to make pickles this year. I also had a nice bag of green beans that we harvested. I plan to freeze them for future use. I am going to blanch them and then spread them out on a baking sheet put them in the freezer and then once they are frozen I will put them in a baggie. I am blanching them to preserve the nutrients and by laying them flat before putting them in a baggie they won't stick together. It was great to be able to pick a green bean and eat it without having to worry about washing it first. I read to harvest the beans every 2-3 days so they keep producing so hopefully I will get a good amount of beans. I am sure harvesting them will keep me busy and you can't help but smile as you pick them and they taste even better then usual because you know you grew them.

Love,

Candy