Summer bounty......

tomatoes, tomatoes, everywhere!

(sorry you crafty ladies, this is a bit of a garden joy post today)

 Sooooo..... we have heaps of these in the garden at the minute, I just love a good summer glut of tomatoes, beans, raspberries, or whatever really, it makes me feel like a good gardener and a little pleased with myself, if I am honest with you!! haha...

It's the reward at the end of the whole long process of sowing a seed, nurturing a seedling, feeding, caring and protecting a little plant till it grows more robust, then anxiously hoping the little fragile flowers were visited by the bees you encourage to frequent the vegie patch, then remembering to keep the watering even and abundant so the fruits/ vegetables swell and flourish and the plants stay healthy and can fend off the insects that want their share.........

A million things can upset this journey from seed to harvest. It is hard to maintain the vigilant attention your little plants require for the whole growing season.  

This summer a bed of freshly sprouted carrots and spring onions that were just pushing their first leaves out, were fatally set back when we went away for the weekend and it was hot for a couple of days. Boo Hoo

 My garden suffers from my sporadic attention, although I have tried very hard this summer to be more consistent in my vegie gardens.  I have been pleased with my results - lots of tomatoes and other things, enough to mean we can get our vegies from home, for the most part, through out summer. Yay!

don't they look pretty!!!

After all that is the reason I garden in the first place, the joy of picking your own stuff!

OK enough gushing....I just love the garden!!

 (kind of like I love crochet, I am an all or nothing type of girl) 

And then you have to do something with it all.  There is only so much you can eat and give away to other people (who have gluts of their own), before it starts to rot on your benches and leak all over the floor.

Apparently I am not to worry that they have risen in the jars - it means that they have made a good seal!

  

So that's what I did yesterday. Got out Mrs Fowler and preserved up a storm!  Just chopped up tomatoes, but very satisfying all the same.  There are a few jars of dark ones, which are my Black Russians, and the rest are Romas and Grosse Liss I think.  15 jars in total.  

I have another lot ripening at the moment so I think I will be adding to this later in the week.

Anyhoo......there is a lot of this going on around these summer parts at the moment, just thought I'd give you a little peek into my kitchen and garden, show you what I've been up to, hope it wasn't too boring!

I am starting a new little bit of crochet too, so will show you all soon.

See ya!