Where do I begin...the Garden Blog has been long silent due to some computer issues here at the Schlaver Seed Farm. Those problems are now over, thanks to son, Benjamin, so now I can catch up and give a report on the 2nd half of the incredible summer in Saco. This is my eight summer in Maine and the weather this year has been the absolute best of them all...even if the rainfall has been less than what might be needed for the garden. We have had endless sun and warmth, cool nights for sleeping, far fewer mosquitoes than usual and the tomatoes are thriving!
I continue to fight a losing battle with weeds in the fairly new Field Garden. I am seriously conidering an investment in a large amount of black plastic for next year. I can anchor that on the beds, add slits and holes for the seedlings and plants and hopefully better manage the weeds as a result. The onion and potato crop has yielded a stunted, in size, harvest because of the weeds stealing the water and nutrients from the crops. This has also been the case with other veggies like the cucumbers and corn. Yet I am pleased with what I have been able to harvest so far. The tomato crop is mammonth and so is the tomatillo yield as well as various varieties of hot peppers so that means lots of SALSA!
Anyone that has been sitting at my dinner table this summer has enjoyed an abundance of lettuse, beets, cooked greens, beans, potatoes, zucchini, and incredible amounts of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and peaches. The freezer is filled with bags of fruit that was first frozen on cookie sheets to keep the individual pieces separated and then put into plastic bags.
As the pictures below show, I am in full canning mode now and have been for several weeks. The tally of jars is now close to 200. The first effort is always jam: strawberry-rhubarb; strawberry; blueberry; blackberry and peach. Later will come the apple butter. Pickles begin next and so far I have done: bread and butter pickles; sweet pickle spears; dill pickles and even zucchini spears. I have a crock full of whole dills that are brinning away for a month or so before going into the canning jars. I have made four batches of red salsa and a couple batches of green salsa and there will certainly be more of both to come. Several jars of pasta sauce are put up already and more is expected. The main variety of tomato I choose to grow is the pear shaped San Marzano, a meaty variety perfect for sauce and salsa. One batch of "eggplant Madras" is completed for a special tasty treat.
As per usual I am able to pick my neighbor Midge's bountiful peach tree of all its fruit and this year that meant a lot of work over a couple days as they all seemed to ripen at once. So jam, pies, canned peach halves, some baked desserts and a lot of peaches eaten right off the tree resulted.
A very special event happened this August. I was given the honor of spending a full week alone with my grandson, Cotton. This was his first time away from both his parents at the same time and he passed the test with flying colors. Fortunately he is so used to the Schlaver Seed Farm that it was like his home away from home in Brooklyn. We had a great time together digging potatoes, watching spider webs, picking Japanese beetles off the grape arbor, and eating blueberries and blackberries right off their bushes. He loves his sandbox and all trucks and toys here and kept very busy. Of course, preferred that I, "Pops," was right there playing with him. To cap off a fun week for this almost three year old, we took the Downeaster train to Boston and then after a subway switch from North Station to South Station, boarded the Amtrak train for New York City. He was thrilled to see his folks again but enjoyed his first of many trips, I presume, for a "summer camp" adventure in Saco.
