Weekend in the Garden: A Small Harvest

Strawberries from our patch

First onion

luffa plants growing in the ground

various tomato and pepper seedlings

My weekend in the garden was spent checking the progress of our seedlings, watering, and weeding (no matter how much mulch we put down, the weeds always sneak in). We harvested a handful of strawberries and pulled the first onion that had a top that was fairly brown and falling over. I'm not sure what I was expecting, something bigger maybe? It looks slightly bigger than the bulb we planted. The other onions still have bright green stems shooting straight up, so we're going to leave them alone for a little longer until they start turning brown.  

I also planted another set of sunflowers: Coconut Ice hybrid. The blooms are supposed to come out pale yellow/white. This year we're growing four varieties: Mammoth, Chianti hybrid, Teddy Bear, and the Coconut Ice.

Other than that, we're in a holding pattern now, just waiting for things to develop fruit.  I'm linking to Sweet Bean Gardening's Hope Grows post. For June, I'm hoping for equal parts sun and rain so that my seedlings keep growing strong, and I hope they set fruit so I can have a good harvest in July and August. That's not too much to ask for, right?

The First Tomatoes Appear

And now for something other than strawberries...

The first tomatoes have appeared! We bought two Early Girl tomato plants from the nursery a few weeks ago. We're growing both plants in containers, and Mr. Bumble Lush staked the plants over the weekend because they were starting to tip over.  Actually we're growing all our tomatoes in containers, and they do well; you just have to make sure the plants stay watered and fertilize the tomatoes mid-way through the growing season. Most of the tomatoes we grow are indeterminate and we stake them to keep the vines from flopping over and looking like a mess on the deck.

My list of tomato varieties and other veggies we're growing here.

Are you growing tomatoes this year? What varieties do you grow?

How to Freeze Strawberries

The excitement you feel from knowing you just picked your own in-season, farm-fresh fruit can quickly dissipate when you bring it all home and see it in the harsh light of your kitchen. Picker's remorse sets in. What to do with eighteen pounds of strawberries lying around the kitchen? Freeze 'em!

We've never frozen fresh fruit before, so I searched the internet for proper techniques, and predictably, found some conflicting directions. Do I leave the caps on or remove them before freezing? In the end, I decided to follow these directions which say to hull/remove the green caps on strawberries before freezing. I chose this option because it seems more convenient--I'll do all the work upfront and when I'm ready to use the berries, they'll be ready to go after I defrost them.

How to freeze strawberries (and what I learned):
1. Wash strawberries carefully. Strawberries are delicate.They bruise and squish easily, so take care not to poke the flesh when washing. Of course, if they do squish, feel free to eat and enjoy that fresh-picked berry.

2. Let the berries drain (about 10-15 minutes) and remove the caps (aka, hull the berries). I've seen fancy hulling gadgets in the stores that look like tweezers, but I just use a plain old paring knife to pop the stem out. Again, take care not to pierce the flesh, or you'll have to eat that juicy berry right then and there.

3. Once strawberries are drained, spread them on a baking sheet or pan. Berries should be in one layer and not overlapping to prevent them from sticking together in the freezer. Note 1: Use whatever flat dish you have. I have a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, and the freezer door wouldn't close because the baking sheets stuck out. I had to improvise. I used glass Pyrex dishes and pie pans. Note 2: Put wax paper down on any glass surface before you spread the strawberries out or they will stick very firmly to the glass and it will be difficult to get them off.

Forgot to add wax paper. That was a mistake.

4. Freeze the strawberries. The directions I followed said to let the berries freeze overnight, but mine were frozen solid after about four hours.

Don't you just want to add whipped cream or chocolate to these?

5. Bag the strawberries and return them to the freezer. Remove the strawberries from the pans and place in freezer bags or any other container used for holding frozen food. We filled five one-gallon size Ziplock freezer bags. The directions I followed also said to label and date the bags, but you'll see that I didn't do that because I can tell they're strawberries and I froze them all over Memorial Day weekend. If I do this again before this original batch runs out, of course I would write a date on the bag.

Final thoughts:
- The strawberries at the bottom of the flats got a little squishy from the weight of the other berries. We didn't freeze those; we'll just eat them as they are. This is a good reminder for the next time I go picking though: be careful about the weight piling on top of the berries at the bottom of the container.
- My friends sliced up the berries before they froze them. I didn't do that, but I don't see why you couldn't.
- The purpose of freezing these berries was to have a plethora of farm-fresh berries to enjoy over the winter. After going through all this work, it'll probably be winter before I'm ready to look at another strawberry again. I wonder how long all these will last? I guess it'll depend on what I use them for. Now I just need to find some interesting recipes.

Do you have any tips/techniques you'd like to share for freezing or generally preserving fruit or vegetables picked from the garden?