Summertime ... and you must pick, and process, and eat the garden!

Yesterday was definitely a garden workday. It started early, while the garden was still in shade and the heat of the day had not yet had a chance to build up. I spent a little time tying up zinnias and tomatoes, putting cages around pepper plants, securing viny cucumber plants to their trellis, knocking Japanese beetles into their soapy, watery grave. The Japanese beetles are showing a preference for the edamame. I haven't seen them on any other plants.

You know the heat of summertime has settled in when the okra starts taking off! The plants are still short, but pods are forming. One pod was covered in aphids. I removed it and fed it to the chickens.

The beets are ready to harvest. I pulled the largest roots.

When dealing with beets I start the whole process by getting rid of excess dirt right there in the garden. I fill up a bucket with water and swish the roots.

Then I haul them all to a shady spot where I separate the roots from the leaves, remove the stems and discard buggy, old, tough, or otherwise ugly leaves.

Into the kitchen I go, where I wash the leaves and roots in ernest, sort the roots by size, and cook them under pressure.

In the pressure cooker the 2" diameter roots take 15 minutes, the 3" roots 20 minutes, to reach perfect tenderness. After that, they're ready to make pickles or harvard beets or … last night buttered beet greens and roots were on the menu, finished off with a blood orange infused olive oil.

After I finished the beets it was time to deal with the abundance of cucumbers. I had relish on my mind. Now THAT requires a LOT of chopping! Refer back to post dated July 7, 2013 for the recipe and directions for making Sweet Pickle Relish.