Vegetable gardening

Marilyn - I think it was the extreme heat that did in the cukes. The ones I planted are Marketmore - it is an old heirloom. I got one last night that was not so bitter.

Oh, good, Memory...hope you can salvage some! Jan, I love bread & butter pickles.....I usually make a batch of refrigerator ones with red sweet pepper & white onions......the ones I canned last year didn't taste very good....too much salt & not enough sugar.....I guess I should stick to the recipe!

Pfffttt!!! Sticking to the recipe.. Whoever does that??

Now that I know how easy it is, I can do it whenever so I don't have to can them. Now, if I had the harvest that pixie is getting I would NEED to get some canning jars, etc.

My neighbor really liked them. He had a bowl of them instead of salad at dinner.

I do that, too......love the homemade pickles......am making some in a few minutes!

Peppers

Wonderful, Jen! I never even got a blossom on my peppers this year.....

haven't had good luck with peppers

Pickle recipes? How easy is it? Yummmmmm,....

Very easy! I slice cukes, place in a Mason jar......add 1 TBLS pickling spice, 1 head of dill. Boil up a brine.....for 1 quart I use 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of cider vinegar, 1/4 cup Kosher salt....boil for 5 min. pour over cukes, refrigerate when cool.

Sounds great! How long do they stay good in the frig?

canned 6 jars of t's today

Yippee!!

Waiting for the mother of all tomatoes to ripen more, wait till you see this monster!

Pam, pickles stay fresh about 6 weeks....mine are usually gone by then! Also, I like my pickles snappy, so I usually add another 1/4 vinegar.....

toms are finally getting ripe! picked 2 yesterday.

I picked one for my salad....bright red, hard as a rock & tasteless :>( awful garden year for me.

sorry to hear that Marilyn - having a great t crop here and looks like another half case to can up this weekend - may get three cases this year

Wow.....good for you, Bill.....

I only grow cherry tomatoes now, the big ones do so badly here. Sweet Million is still my favorite. Sun Sugar is delicious too, and doesn't crack like Sungold. Cupid I find disappointing, although DH loves it. It's sweet enough, but to me it's thick skinned and dense. It's quite prolific, good thing he likes it!

Cherry tomatoes are prolific, but I find them very seedy.....I like Patti's recipe though for preserving them by baking them in a slow oven......

picked 4 toms so far.

please join us over here for part 2 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1330764/