From the Gardens Registrar: The EH Sign is Back!; There Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues*; Preserving the Harvest; Clearing Empty Plots for Workday Credit; Workday Sunday at EH

Hello Gardeners,

EAGLE HEIGHTS WELCOME SIGN – Many thanks to Will and Dave for remaking and repainting our welcome sign at EH. It looks beautiful. It’s great to have it back up.

SUMMERTIME BLUES – Did you have big plans for the summer? Getting outside a lot! Bicycling! Travelling! Doing aaaamaaaazing things in your garden! And now, we’re less than three weeks from Labor Day, and what have you accomplished?

Many of our garden plots are still looking wonderful. But I’m seeing increasing numbers of plots that look like the gardeners are wearing out and falling behind. Folks, it’s too early to give up. We still have more than two months before frost, and there’s plenty of time to grow beautiful and tasty things. If you have weedy patches, get those weeds out, and plant something new – beets, radishes, carrots, lettuce, greens.  Or cover the area with a good layer of leaves, so it doesn’t get weedy again. Improving your garden is indeed a cure for the summertime blues. And let me know if you could use some help. We are a community garden, and we can and do help each other.

PRESERVING THE HARVEST – Too many tomatoes? There’s no such thing. There are lots of ways to preserve tomatoes, so you can enjoy them all year. None of them have to go to waste. The very fastest, easiest way is to freeze them, provided you have some freezer space. Pick the tomatoes, wash and dry them, and put them into good quality freezer bags or containers. Freeze. That’s it. You don’t have to blanch them or peel them or anything else. When you thaw them, they won’t be any good for salads, but you can cook them in many ways. If you want to take the skin off, just hold them, one by one, under the faucet, and the skin will slip off. You can also puree your tomatoes in a blender or food processor, and freeze the puree, or make sauce or salsa and freeze that. Canning tomatoes is more work, but it’s easy to do, and won’t take up freezer space. Or you can dry them in a dehydrator or an oven. Here are ideas and directions: https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-preserve-tomatoes-2217665

As for cucumbers, here’s a simple refrigerator pickle, which you can change to suit your own taste:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22653/homemade-refrigerator-pickles/

As for zucchini and summer squash, one good and easy way to preserve them for the winter is to shred and freeze them. Then you can throw them into soups, casseroles, breads, cookies, you name it.  

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CLEAR AN EMPTY GARDEN PLOT FOR WORKDAY CREDIT? – We currently have sixteen empty plots – 8 at Eagle Heights, and 8 at University Houses. If you are willing to do a workday, but have trouble getting to scheduled weekend work, let me know, and I’ll assign you to clear a plot. If you have a friend who also wants to do this, I can assign the two of you to clear a large plot together. You can work on your own schedule, and you don’t have to do it all at once, although I would appreciate you getting the work done within a couple of weeks. Email me if you’re interested.

WORKDAY SUNDAY MORNING AT EAGLE HEIGHTS – We will hold a workday Sunday morning, August 18, at Eagle Heights, from 9am – Noon. The task will be working on fruit areas adjacent to the weed pile. We will cancel if it rains. This requires a limited number of people. Here’s the link to sign up: https://doodle.com/poll/mfddakivus9es5vb

Happy gardening,

Kathryn

*song by Eddie Cochran, 1958