What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

I tried a new jam recipe tonight.
Chocolate covered cherries jam

6 cups fresh or frozen pitted, dark,sweet cherries, coarsely chopped
6 TBSP pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 cups of sugar ( I used 5)
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa

Combine cherries, pectin and lemon juice and bring to a roiling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. ( it was pretty thick so definitely needed to be stirred to prevent scorching ).
Mix cocoa & sugar together. Add all at once to cherry mixture. Return to full roiling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Ladle into prepared jars. 1/4” headspace. Remove air bubbles. Water bath 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove water bath lid and let jars sit in water 5 minutes. Remove from canner and let cool.

This sounds pretty good, have you tried it yet?

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. Hubs surprised me and put the new cover on the shade garden yesterday. It’s totally clear of weeds, I just need to rake and move a couple of pots out of there. As expected the chickens pulled out the sensor for the waterer so I fixed that too. The rosemary grew outside the chicken wire so I have to trim that AGAIN and next Sunday we can put the shade on the bottom half. We’ve had some wild temperature swings and got some hail last week along with a downpour for a few minutes, but it didn’t leave puddles so didn’t amount to much. The wind has been brutal though, even the chickens went to bed early a couple of nights. The broody abandoned her nest, I’m good with it, after the four shipped chicks died I wasn’t in the mood for babies anyway. I found some black buckets at Ace last weekend, but ended up ordering some food grade buckets from Amazon also. There are literally no five gallon buckets to be had around here. Hubs says people are using them to store water? I think a lot more people are prepping a bit. Search five gallon buckets and all the top results are food grade with gamma lids. I’m glad I bought those quite some time ago, they’re far more expensive now than they used to be. We need to get outside and finish a few cleaning items, then I’m leaving a couple of bales of straw for the chickens to work on and cleaning house. Have a great day all!

 

[littledog]

Made 6 shepherd's pies tonight, so simple: chopped cabbage, potatoes, diced pork (usually lamb, but whatever we have works) salt, pepper and garlic. Left out two to eat and froze four.
The other cabbages are in the fridge after crushing in brine, will do sauerkraut tomorrow.

 

[Sueby]

I agree @karenerwin, that jam sounds good! Maybe that will be my christmas jam next year!

I so wish I could have a cat here. We have so many mice, I’d love a barn kitty. But cats don’t survive long around here with the wildlife we have & I’m too allergic for it to be in the house.

I harvested a bunch of lettuce for dinner tonight from the aerogarden. Its growing great, & that was only from 2 pods. The other 3 are catching up, the spinach wont sprout though. I might abandon the spinach & plant something else. Maybe scallions or herbs.

 

[Sueby]

I understand your concern Sueby. Keep your phone charged and handy and be careful!

I’m going to put my watch on - it has fall detection & will call 911. Lol. I’m so old.

 

[WthrLady]

I had a dream last night that I spent all day putting in a railroad tie long flowerbed next to the windmill, scouted first for sprinkler heads, built it, filled it with layers to compost it in place, topped it with soil, and planted it with wildflowers and everything. Woke up totally exhausted AND no flowerbed in the yard. UGH.

So I guess THAT'S happening this spring.

Nothing on my books but letting the birds out for a bit and maybe cutting out a dress.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I am going to start some carrots and beets.
I have some wildflowers growing. Think I will add beets and carrots on either
side of that. Everything is in our spare room grow pads and lights encourage them.

 

[jerryse]

Nice day here with a bit of a breeze. Got grape cutting from my friend on Friday. So I stuck 6 in a pot to root. Saved some for grafting later.

 

[TheRusticRebel]

Planting season 2023 has begun over here in Northern SC! This weekend i started tomatos, cukes, luffa, peppers and yellow squash indoors under lights. 2 weeks ago i put onion sets in one of the beds. They are sprouting.

In november i planted spinach, broccoli and cabbage and the spinach ive been harvesting from all winter. Broccoli is crowning now, and cabbage should be heading soon. Today i sowed peas and carrots out in a bed.

Im super excited for this years garden. Ive been practicing with my pressure canner on dried beans and stocking up on jars. After about 6 years of gardening i think this will be the year i can actually put up a good deal of food for us.

Oh and i turned my compost pile today and its is looking amazing. Its finally all coming together.

 

[WthrLady]

my chickens won't go near the chia. Good lord they are picky eaters.
Set the pots of starter mix up for the iris, they are soaking and warming on the mats and the iris seeds are soaking in the kitchen
I should have them planted tomorrow afternoon.