Lynda, what is that in your last picture?

@bcdky That is heartbreaking, especially when there were young berries on it.

@annie Thanks for the tips. So far, I have made salsa, canned some for pie, and made turnovers. I've never had as much nectarines as we have this year. It is a good problem to have, but one I was unprepared for. I am off today, so will try to make some spicy nectarine sauce, which I will can. I may also make some jam. DH says he will make wine out of the rest.

@floral Those are my bananas. I have three stands or cluster of bananas. They each produced fruit this year, but the other two are not yet ripe. They produce small bananas, each about 2 inches long. I like to make a dessert called Bananas Foster with them. This involves cooking them in butter and brown sugar, then adding vanilla, Kahlua and dark rum and lighting the pan on fire until the alcohol has burned off. Then I serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

I pulled up my broccoli plants after harvesting about 1 lb. of side shoots. Pulled all but 2 of the cauliflower plants. The other 2 heads need a couple more days to size up more. Asparagus harvest will end by this weekend.

Next up will be beets, garlic, potatoes, and onions, followed by beans by the end of June. Then the tomato harvest should start in early July. We've had a hot spell with temps in the low to mid 90s which isn't helping the tomato set. It's supposed to start to cool down tomorrow.

Love those little bananas!

Annie, I'm down from 21 hens, 6 roosters and one Pekin drake to 7 hens, 2 roosters, 2 Pekin drakes and 4 Pekin hens. I guess you could say I'm harvesting chicken and duck eggs. Just made the birds yard twice as big as it was.

Madonna

I harvested and washed spinach, assorted varieties of lettuce, and French Breakfast radishes today. We will continue eating all of those as salads most days for the next few weeks. Tonight some of the spinach was chopped and cooked as part of a cheesy mac, ham, and veggie bowl. Asparagus has been on the menu a lot, too. Tomorrow should bring another harvest of that. It will probably shoot up quickly tomorrow since we received some much needed rain tonight. I usually steam it. Some gets saved after steaming and is eaten cold with salads.

I have plenty of rhubarb, too. Some is in the refrigerator waiting to be used. I've looked at recipes but haven't made anything yet. Hopefully I'll get motivated and make the rhubarb cake recipe soon.

On the distant horizon from my garden are beets and cucumbers for pickling. The closest is garlic which should start being ready in a few weeks.

I bought a canning share from an organic fruit grower. August through October I will get 40 pounds of peaches, 40 pounds of apples, 20 of pears and 20 of heirloom tomatoes. So much to plan for later in the summer.

Jack, you're pulling up broccoli just a few weeks after I planted mine!

naturegirl, I'm still picking asparagus and I have mizuna, bok choi, spinach and lettuce and we're having salads every day. Those walking onions you gave me are growing like crazy. Do I eat the tops on those or just let them fall over and grow?

Madonna, you're downsizing and I'm upgrading, LOL. Right now I have 6 old heritage breed hens, they are mostly just pets, the oldest one is 9. A dozen ISA Browns for eggs, but they're two and have pretty much stopped laying, so I bought 32 replacement pullets which are about 10 weeks old now. When they start laying, the ISA Browns will become stock, I didn't like them much anyway, they're aggressive and flighty. They made life a complete misery for my "old girls" until I gave up and made two coops with two pens. The new pullets are happily living with the old hens and everything is pretty peaceful, but the ISA Browns still fly at the fence and stick their heads through to pluck off the feathers of any unsuspecting bird which might get too close. They're just....weird. I also have 23 meat birds in a third enclosure, we had 24 but a big raccoon had a chicken dinner on my dime. Elery is working on trapping him. Anyway, altogether I have 27 young pullets, a mix of breeds. I started with 32, one died and 4 went to live with my youngest daughter and her kids. Add the 12 ISA Browns, the 6 old ladies and my 23 meat birds, and I have a chicken farm, LOL. So that makes 68, I think. By fall I'll be down to 33...

Linda, that's a very cool picture, with the flames licking up out of the pan! And enjoy the wine!

Robert, your garden seems that it's right about the same stage as mine here in Michigan. That's a lot of fruit, so there's definitely something to look forward to.

Like Madonna we're harvesting eggs, as well as salad greens and asparagus, so we had an asparagus frittata for supper.

Annie

Annie, the walking onions should be getting topsets (sorta like purchased onion sets) on the end of some of the stems soon. Let some of them mature. You can plant them like sets for fall scallions. If you leave them alone they will fall over and the topsets will sprout on their own where they fall...the so called "walking". Leave some of the plants grown from topsets or some of the ones you already have for cold resistant onions that will last through the winter and make next year's crop of topsets. Harvest at any stage...leaves or bulbs. They have a strong onion flavor. I like to harvest some early in the spring when other onions aren't available. The bulbs never get big so I also use the leaves. I have read that some people pickle the larger topsets, but I've not tried that. I'm no expert on walking onions, mostly I think they are a fun and unusual addition to the other alliums I grow. Now I'm wondering if topsets planted in the late summer will make topsets the next year. Do yours have them? I'll go see if I can figure out what is going on with mine. I know there are small topsets forming but am not sure if they are on older plants or ones less than a year old.

It sounds like you have quite the chicken farm going! Did the grandkids pick out the mixed breeds of pullets?

Thanks, naturegirl, mine do have topsets, and I thought you said just let them fall over and they would grow, but I'd rather have them in rows, LOL. So plant those in the fall, along with the garlic, and they'll be good for spring?

Yes, the Grandkids picked out the pullets. We got Buff Brahma and Midnight Maran to go with the rest of my "heritage" breeds, but also got some hybrids meant for egg laying. We got some that lay green eggs, some blue eggs, some white eggs, some dark brown eggs, some light cream eggs. The Brahma is actually meant to be Madison's 4H chicken, except that the Fair was cancelled this year. They aren't particularly good egg layers, but they get big, they're docile and make a good Fair chicken. I still have the "old girls", one Speckled Sussex who is the boss, one Welsummer who never shuts up, one Barnevelder, one Cuckoo Maran, one Aracauna, and a Black Australorp. The Sussex is 9 and still lays 2 or 3 eggs a week, she's persistent!

Today I harvested baby bok choi and mizuna, again. We had some for supper with roasted chicken. The mizuna is coming back from where I cut it, I think I'm going to cut the rest of it because it's getting pretty big and beginning to flower. I'll cook that as a green and use the new tender growth for salads.

Annie

Red currants .... for shortbread.

Annie, yes, I've downsized on chickens, but not all by choice. I'm watching our local swap for some hens. All my girls lay nearly every day. Mama duck lays an egg a day and the three daughters should start laying within the next month. I use to sell the eggs to people at work, but since I'm no longer working outside of home, it's not worth the travel time so I'll donate extras on eggs to one of the soup kitchens or St. Vincent de Paul. Just a little bit of doing my share to help.

Madonna

@Madonna @Annie We would love to be harvesting eggs. Having hens is something we have been considering for a long time.

@floral That shortbread looks good!

@Robert That is the first I have heard of having a fruit share. What a good idea and it gives you some time to think about what you will do with the fruit when it arrives.

We have just finished harvesting nectarines. We got far more than we knew what to do with. Next up will be plums, which we will make wine with. It looks like only a modest crop this year. On the vegetable side, we have green beans, chard, and arugula. Lettuce is done for the summer. Tomatoes and peppers are just starting to be ready to harvest.

I have been harvesting so much lettuce, some spinach, arugula, and chard, rhubarb, and lots of herbs. This year is the first year we have harvested cherries and we are so excited about it. We made a cherry tart with the first batch, but there are more in the fridge and on the tree. We have also gotten a few mulberries. Soon, the peas will be ready and we have tiny cucumbers and tomatoes that I cannot wait to pick.

Right now, I am focused on adding soil to the new garden beds because we have nearly doubled the size of the vegetable garden And I have so many plants that need to be planted in the new space.

@food_lover I would be excited about cherries too!

I’ve picked lots of pink elder flowers from my black lace elder bush. I made elderflower cordial, which is a beautiful pink shade, and delicious to drink. Now I’m picking black raspberries. The gooseberries are nearly ripe enough to pick. I froze some elder flowers to add to the gooseberry jam I’ll make once They’re ripe.

dancingcook, I've seen others mention putting elderberry flowers into gooseberry jam. What do those flowers do for the jam?

I'm picking and prepping gooseberries today and might try the elderberry flower thing if it is easy.

While I'm talking gooseberry jam, I remember years ago we had some pectin that reacted with gooseberries to turn the jam red. Anyone know what kind of pectin does that? I liked the effect.

Matthias_lang, I haven’t yet tried the gooseberry jam with elder flowers. The recipe says they add a floral note to the jam. I will experiment in a few weeks!

I'm not harvesting anything at the moment other than some herbs. I'm in that kind of lull here when it's getting too hot for the spring stuff like tender greens and peas, and not yet on stuff like tomatoes and peppers. It's weeding and watering season, lol.

And weep, I had a total dry bean failure this year- one of my seed stocks that tested fine in January simply rotted when I tried them a couple weeks ago. And #@%#$^$# critters managed to nip/eat down my other bean towers :( Ah well. Next year.

In a week or two I'll be pulling some beets and radishes. The garlic is going good, so are the storage onions.

Mullberries are starting to almost be ready to pick- should just be a few days now. All we do with those is eat fresh off the tree, or sometimes a bowl for the fridge for a bit of snacking or dressing a salad with. We aren't into sweets, and not enough to make wine, lol.

dancingcook: The pink elderflowers certainly make for a beautiful cordial and the cool bottles make it even better.

beesneeds: Battling critters is no fun. Can you still plant now and hope for a long dry fall? I did that one year and ended up pulling vines to dry in my garage when a week of rain was predicted. I'm not sure if it was worth all the extra work.

I harvested all of my spinach and most of the lettuce recently. We have hot dry weather now and more is predicted for the next several days. The greens should store okay in the refrigerator for several days while we eat big salads with most meals. There are a few radishes to add to them and some steamed and then cooled asparagus. I plan to cut asparagus for another week or two, but it is slowing down and getting thinner. Some of the ragged spinach will get chopped and added to omelets. And there is always some kind of onion or chive to cut and add if desired.

I see buds on the beans. I hope they flower and get pods before long. Fresh beans are a favorite here.

@beesneeds In a few years, you will have enough mulberries to make all kinds of things. For several years, we would get a small bowl here and there. Last year, we were picking a quart or two per day. I made a delicious mixed berry jam with mostly mulberries and raspberries (because those are what we have a lot of) and also some blueberries, wineberries, and blackcaps whenever they were available.

Plum and apricot jam.

And then oatmeal jam bars.

Also garlic

Next up is pluots and nectarines. The birds have started pecking so it won't be long now.

@nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14) That looks amazing. Where are you located? Our plums are very late this year and may be a small crop. Our nectarines came very early and had a huge crop.

@dancingcook That elderberry cordial looks beautiful.

We are having a lull in harvesting. I lost the bolt battle with the lettuce and spinach, and am pulling them. The bumper nectarine crop has all been picked and the berries are all nearing the end of the harvest. Right now all we are harvesting are green beans, chard, tomatoes and the first few peppers.

@Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast), Thank you! Solano county northern California.

Good to see the pink elderflower cordial. I’ve made some but it’s just from the common wild white elder which is in every hedge in the countryside round here. We’re harvesting raspberries, redcurrants, gooseberries, favas, asparagus and lettuce. May was very dry but now it’s raining and everything is growing space again.

@food_lover Our mulberry tree has been fully mature for years now. Plenty enough for some fresh eating and a bit of snacking, just not enough for making wine even if we did strip the tree daily.

Floral_uk Last year I picked white elder flowers and made cordial which I think made a more flavorful cordial than the pink ones, though of course that may just be my memory playing tricks!

We are harvesting all kinds of things right now. We made salsa from our tomato, jalapeno, spring onion and key limes. I had to use store bought cilantro as I have been unable to extend their harvest to overlap with that of the tomato & jalapeno.

Apples

Watermelon

Thai Chili peppers

Golden Muscat Grapes

Key Limes

Key Limes

Pom Wonderful

Pears

Corn and squash

Green Beans

Kaffir Limes

Basil

Wow, those are some nice fruits!

Here there isn't a lot that's ready, mostly just lettuces, greens, some green onions and a few herbs.

I've got about a silo full of bok choi, though, and am struggling to find enough uses for it to use it all up.

Annie

Lynda - You have so much coming in now! And it's all so beautiful!! Due to our climate, we are unable to grow a number of the varieties that you have. Wonderful assortment!

Thank you Cindy!

Annie, we had an excess of bok choy which we cut into bite size pieces and froze. Not ideal but better than wasting them.

Today's harvest was carrots and green beans. We are having some of each for dinner!

Our pineapple is getting bigger. This is our third fruit, we now have the existing plant which has split a few times and the the tops of our last two pineapples were saved and re-planted. We've been getting one a year, but as I plant the tops I am hoping we can get it up to a few per year.

Lynda --- those pineapples look nice!

I started harvesting garlic. I have just a small patch of it and this year I experimented with several new varieties. I planted last fall and then we had temps in the single digits (f) a week later so I was worried how they would do. Not too bad so far. I wish I would get bigger garlic heads though.

So far I have pulled up Inchelium Red (have planted before) and Music (new), Have the following new varieties (to me) still in the ground --- Silver, German Red and Nootka Rose,

I've been harvesting yellow summer squash and a few figs. I have sold, given away, and eaten the squash.

Anna Apples are ripe and we harvested a huge bag of them yesterday.

I will make apple pie filling and also some apple leather for snacking. They are delicious on their own. They were bred in Israel for heat, and get ripe in late June-July.

There is a window. They get mushy if left on the tree too long.

It's weird, because we live on the edge of nowhere and have a ton of critters, but they leave those alone.

I have a peeler, corer, slicer thing that really helps with this job.

Susan, those are nice looking apples. It is good you found a variety that will grow in your area. I'm in a big apple producing county and enjoy hearing about apple varieties and new developments. I doubt we will see Anna apples in our colder region.

Zucchini and summer squash were harvested this morning. There will be a lot in the next few days and hopefully much longer. It can be a battle with insects and mildew but I expect a plentiful harvest for several weeks. We will probably stir fry them with onions, peppers, garlic, mushrooms, greens and soy sauce and add some leftover chicken. The onions, greens and peppers will also be from the garden.

I just harvested a new-to-me green called Peking Taching Kou Pai Tsai. It was mild and slightly sweet and I liked it a lot.

This is half of my garden, the other half has corn, potatoes, cabbage, peppers, eggplant, broccoli and brussels sprouts and is on the other side of those apple trees. The trees in front of the small barn are peach, but several nights in the 20s in May resulted in no crop this year.

My apples are still tiny:

My tomatoes are still green:

My corn has tassels but no ears yet:

Hey, but I have hot peppers! Sugar Rush Peach:

Tiny zucchini, ready in a couple of days:

I did get a bunch of garlic scapes:

I've eaten some lettuce and spinach, although it's now bolted from the heat, it was over 90F for several days. I've still got bok choi, and garlic should be ready in a week or two. I have Napa cabbage just about ready to use, so Elery can make some kim chee and he'll be happy.

Annie

@robert I would love to see pictures of you garlic. We have grown it on occasion, but our bulbs are always really small.

@garymc The yellow squash look great. Mine just flowered so it will be awhile until I have a crop.

@Susan Highland USDA Zone 9b What a great batch of Annas. We grow those too, they really are the best apples for a mild climate. I like to make a rustic tart from them, but this year my son decided he liked them and we didn't have enough left to make even one tart. May I ask how old your tree is? Ours is about five years old (and we have a second one planted in a pot this January). Both produced fruit this year, but the quantity was low.

@naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan What kind of apples do you have where you are?

@annie1992 What a beautiful and large garden you have! That corn!!

@Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast) Our tree could be 30 years old. We are not the original owners and I'm thinking the dude that built the house planted it. Ours need a pollinator like a Golden Delicious, and if we had that, our apples wouldn't be so whonky and misshapen. But they still taste amazing.

I have apples coming out my ears! Yesterday I made 5 bags of apple pie filling and froze them. Today I made a couple quarts of apple butter and that will be frozen too. Tomorrow I'm making apple leather. The rest, we'll eat fresh. I'll keep em in the crisper.

I save the cores and peels for the worms that compost. This is a photo of peeled and sliced apples for pie filling.

Lynda, I'm not naturegirl, but we live pretty close together. We grow lots of apples in Michigan, the small orchard near me grows MacIntosh, Ida Red, Red Delicious, Yellow Delicious, Honeycrisp, Blondee, Jazz, Wolf River, Granny Smith, Empire, Gala, Pink Lady, Kandil Sinap, Grimes Golden, Strawberry, Snow apples, Gravenstein, Paula Red, Zestar, Quinte, Melba, Fuji, Braeburn, Hawaii, Northern Spy, Calville Blanc D'Hiver and many, many more. They have only one or two of several of the old trees, so sometimes it's hard to buy some, but they have them!

https://www.magiclandfarms.com/our-produce-1#apples

Annie

@annie1992 and @naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan That must be wonderful. Apples are such a useful fruit. We have a Fuji and *may* get some fruit this year. It isn't thriving, but it is not dead either, so I still have hope.

@Susan Highland USDA Zone 9b Our neighbors had an anna apple tree that produced enough for both families. Sadly it got diseased and was taken out. We planted ours afterwards. I think I am just being impatient.

Lynda, the orchard Annie mentions lists a great assortment of apples that grow well around here. I looked at their website, Annie, and may take a trip there this fall. It looks fun! I'm glad you gave that info. A popular orchard with retail sales around Grand Rapids grows mostly the well known and currently popular varieties. They have varieties that ripen late in July and a succession of varieties to harvest until the end or October or even early November. Here's their list: Lodi, Pristine, Zestar!, Paula Red, Ginger Gold, Dandee, Gala, McIntosh, Honey Crisp, Cortland, Mitsu, Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Ida Red, Northern Spy, Braeburn, Fuji, and Pink Lady.

I planted Jonathan, McIntosh, and Golden Delicious in my suburban yard about 30 years ago. Only the Golden Delicious is still alive. The other two were in a part of the yard that got waterlogged and they died after a rainy year. With apple trees everywhere, we also have lots of apple pests. It is hard to grow good apples without spraying frequently. Many years I do not have very good fruit.

I saw a Wolf RIver tree at Annie's garden...er...farm :) They get enormous apples. Some of the largest are almost 8 inches in diameter and a pound in weight! An orchard near my first apartment also had them years ago.

There is a huge growers Expo here in Grand Rapids each December that has a few hundred types of apples on display each year. There are multiple cultivars of each main variety...ie. 8 cultivars of Gala, as well as new introductions. Each is a tiny bit different, maybe in color, maturity date, disease resistance, etc.

Hello All. It has been quite a long time since I have been on this site and have enjoyed reading through the posts for ideas!

The garden went in later than usual due to rain and late frosts. The spinach and peas are already finished and they were eaten fresh. Need to plant more for sure next year so I can have enough to freeze of both. The cucumbers are just coming on and they will be turned into freezer pickles and sweet relish along with eating fresh and making Benedictine. We grow strawberries and have already harvested enough to make a couple of batches of strawberry balsamic jam and strawberry walnut bars using the jam plus some fresh berries mashed in. I like to make the bars and wrap them individually then freeze in baggies. It is nice to grab one for my morning commute or for my farmer husband to grab one to put in his pocket for later. They thaw pretty quick.

Our fields are giving us plenty of wild blackberries so I freeze the bulk
and then make one of our favorite desserts - blackberry lime ice cream. I also pick enough berries to freeze quite a few gallons for later use.

@naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan So interesting to hear about the apples in your area. We don't spray our apple trees, but they are not common here and I have never seen any evidence of pests. Even though we grow the same thing our challenges are different. For us, drought and lack of water is our biggest issue.

@Frugal Table 6B Kentucky That ice cream looks good. Would you be willing to share the recipe? Our blackberries are done for the year, but I would love to give it a try next year. We made jam, syrup and pie fillings this year. We can only eat so much of that, so it would be good to expand to something more usable like ice cream.

As you know we harvested a boatload of Anna Apples, and after I froze the usual pie filling, which takes up way too much room in my freezer, I followed a recipe that I googled for Apple Leather! Oh my! Next year I will just make leather. I don't need that much pie filling. It was easy and took a ton of apples down to fit in a gallon zip lock. Plus, it's a really good snack! And it takes no room in my freezer!

@Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)

Blackberry Ice Cream

Wonderful with fresh picked blackberries but frozen berries can be used also.

1 1/2 cup half-and-half

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cup strained blackberry puree (make from 4 cups whole berries)

1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice, fresh or bottled

1. Warm half-and-half and sugar in medium saucepan.
2. Pour cream into large bowl and set mesh strainer over top.
3. Slowly pour warm half-and-half into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
4. Stir constantly over medium heat with heatproof spatula, scraping bottom as you stir until mixture thickens and coats spatula.
5. Pour custard through the strainer and stir into cream. Mix in *puree and lemon juice then stir until cool over ice bath.
6. Chill thoroughly in fridge and churn ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions within 4 hours of making mixture.
7. *Blackberry Puree: 4 -4 ½ cups blackberries, heat, crush, strain.

@Frugal Table 6B Kentucky That looks amazing. I will try it and let you know how it turns out.

@Lynda R (USDA 9b, Sunset 23) - I will take a picture of the garlic. Some of them were disappointing. Could be the heat in between the houses, not sure. I order from Filaree Farm and ordered a few new varieties to try this autumn, along with a couple stand-bys.

@Frugal Table 6B Kentucky - That sure does look good!

I have harvested my first zucchini as of today! There have been about 6 pickling cucumbers. I may have to try super small batch processing at this rate!

Not harvested but I have 2 baby-ish butternut squashes growing so far! I never grew them before. I need to get some netting or something to keep the squirrels away.

A couple cherry tomatoes and tomorrow? My first regular sized tomato. Woo hoo!

Naturegirl, that was my favorite "farm market" before I moved out here onto the farm. It was only about 7 miles from my house in White Cloud, but it's about 20 miles away now. The patch where I picked blueberries is only a couple of miles from there and if you go south on M-37 you'll find Nelson's, where I picked sweet cherries, strawberries and raspberries. A bit further south than that is the "Fruit Ridge" and there are a lot of roadside markets and options there. MagicLand, though, is the only one with the heirloom apples, they are small enough that they don't try to compete with the "big guys" and their bushels of the newer varieties. They've got a little "niche" going and seem to be doing well enough to expand, so that's a very good thing. That old Wolf River tree at the farm that you saw has been there for at least 50 years, since I was a little girl, maybe before then. The elderly gentleman who lived in the farmhouse before we bought it used to let me have all the apples I wanted if I would bake him a pie. He had a woodstove, LOL, but fortunately Grandma knew how to use that and so we always canned applesauce from those Wolf River apples.

Here and now, I've been eating zucchini for a week or so, and just had the first cucumbers last weekend. I also dug/pulled the garlic which did exceptionally well this year. Please ignore the various turtle shells, deer bones and other "cool stuff" the Grandkids keep finding and putting on my picnic table, LOL.

I used a regular canning jar ring for scale on this one. They weren't all this big, but there were several that were and the rest were pretty good sized too.

The raspberries have decided to just go crazy suddenly too, I'm picking a couple of quarts a day:

Annie

Wow, Annie! That’s one big hunk of garlic! What variety? Do you know? When I am able, I definitely want to get a garlic bed going, and finding the types that do well in our climate will be key.

Martha