Fruits of our Labor

Garden Harvest

Things are well under way in the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures' garden. So far this season, we've harvested Yellow Pearl shallots, Husky Cherry Red tomatoes, cucumbers, and Early Girl tomatoes, and a Giant Marconi (sweet) pepper. We've also been harvesting lots of herbs.

This year was the first year for shallots and I've been impressed. They were so easy to grow and grew very well in my part sun/part shade raised bed. The cucumbers, on the other hand, have been a bit disappointing. Last year, the cucumber variety we grew produced 15-20 cucumbers on the one plant. This year, we've only gotten two. Some of the reduction in production might be the variety (a compact growing variety) and some might be the extremely hot weather we had early in April and May. I was hoping to make pickles like last year but I'm not sure that is going to happen given our reduced cucumber harvest.

Earlier this week, I canned home made spaghetti sauce to use up some of the tomatoes. Along with the tomatoes, we also included home grown basil and oregano in the sauce. It was easier to make than I expected and I'm hoping to do a few additional batches (or maybe even double batches) with our home grown tomatoes as the season progresses. Last weekend, we picked 8 lbs of blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm and on Monday I put up six jars of blueberry jam. Earlier in the season, I canned my first batch of blueberry jam and a batch of peach jam. Both are delish!

Early Girl Tomatoes

Yellow Pearl shallots, cucumber, and Early Girl tomatoes