Gardening, Lately

We've been working to preserve the harvest.

We STILL didn't get enough tomatoes to can, even with six plants.  It was just not a good year.  (On the plus side, Belovested, the cook, is getting better at using them when they are fresh.)  I suppose we could can if we wanted to.  But it seems silly when it all fits in the freezer.

Still, we are saving bean seeds, some for sowing next year and most for eating.

There are special varieties of beans that are meant to dry on the vine and then have the bean seeds harvesting for eating. We didn't actually plant that kind.  But I figure it's not like these are going to be poisonous or anything.  We're going to save them to add to soups.

We're also drying and grinding herbs.  Here's some thyme, with the stems headed for the compost pile.

I've been storing dried herbs in baby food jars.  Thanks to Sarah and Gen and Jen for giving me their empties.

Soon we'll harvest the last of the tomatoes.  We've already warded off one frost successfully, but we won't be able to hold out forever...

I wish gardening made more of a dent in the grocery bill, but as my husband points out, veggies are cheap.  At least we know we aren't eating pesticides, plus the flavor is much better.