My first regular tomato is here! This is the Azoychka variety.
In other food news, last week I went to the u-pick strawberry farm on a whim on my day off. I picked 4 quarts of strawberries and a few raspberries. A couple of friends and I went on the last day of the early crop, and this time the pickings were MUCH better!
And then…I canned jam! I made strawberry jam and strawberry lemon marmalade. It went well, and I am happy to say I know how to can.
Finally, here are a few carrots I dug last week. They looked great when I took the picture, and then I put them in the fridge. They got rubbery again! Super rubbery… I must figure out what is wrong, because Joel isn’t getting to eat any of his beloved carrots. I also dug the rest of the onions, and they ranged from large marble sized to golf ball sized. Hmm.
What a great post! I love all the pictures–your jam looks wonderful!
Woot! The first ripe tomato of the season really is eXciting, isn’t it? The ripe berries and preserves look so beautiful (and yummy)!
Yea – tomato!! And your jam looks fabulous. Will you share your recipes?
Congratulations- I always celebrate the first tomato, too. 🙂
Did you store the carrots with the tops on? Cut the tops off before refrigerating in a bag and they should stay crisp…the tops do something to make them soft, I think (no scientist, here, you can tell…).
Thanks for sharing your garden successes at the Garden Party (please remember to provide a link back to the party so others can participate!).
The marmalade is straight out of the Ball Blue Book, and they have it online: http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/all_recipes/215.php?recipe=55&recipID=211&catID=.
For the jam, I used the recipe inside the low/no sugar pectin box. It was just strawberries, pectin, apple or white grape juice, and sugar if you want it (I think I used around the max of 3 cups).
Jami, thanks for the tip on the carrots! I had no idea. I haven’t put a link because you guys are the only ones who garden and read my posts, but I will do it in the future. 🙂
Our garden is complete toast I think at this point. Last time I went out there everyone’s zucchini plants had died. The only think that’s still going strong is okra. I wish I liked okra 🙂
Tiff I was just wondering this week how your garden was doing. Too bad things aren’t so good. That’s funny about the okra…hasn’t it been going forever? I guess it’s like if my cucumbers took off like crazy and nothing else.