Welcome to My Garden:Happenings in the Garden

Last weeks load of tomatoes is going to be made into tomato sauce and stored in the freezer. I am just not getting enough tomatoes at on time to can them. It is so much work that I really want a larger haul of those little beauties before I bust out the steamer/caner again.So far I have only gotten about 6 pints of tomatoes canned and that was in two batches of three pints each and a couple jars of salsa and of course the tomatoes from last week. 

These tomatoes made me 2 quarts of freezer tomato sauce that turned out yummy! I just cooked down the tomatoes all day in the crock pot with about 6 cloves of garlic, a whole yellow onion, a couple handfuls of fresh basil and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Today's harvest includes a couple of jalapeno peppers that I will put into some fresh salsa I am going to be making later. The rosemary will go into the freezer for seasoning dishes throughout the winter months and with all the cucumbers I have gotten and ones from friends I will be making a cucumber salad.

Love harvesting out of the herb garden! Today's haul is a whole bunch of lemon balm and that's not even close to how much I actually have!!! I planted two lemon balm plants in the herb garden and have many baby lemon balm plants in the back yard from before when I just had one plant in a pot and kept moving it around my flower beds!!

The lemon balm is going to be dried for use later in lip balm and tea. Right now I am infusing some of the lemon balm I previously picked in some Extra Virgin Olive oil so I can make some cold sore lip balm. I will post more on the lip balm later! I still have to get the mint picked and prepared to dry. Maybe I will fit that into today's chore list.  

Happy Gardening!!

I tried that!: All Purpose Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

Lemon Rosemary Citrus Cleaner

Ingredients

distilled vinegar
lemon peels-just the peels and pith, not the edible inside parts.
fresh rosemary, 3 or 4 sprigs
vanilla extract (optional)
essential oils (optional) adding a few drop to the spray bottle will help with the vinegary smell

 Supplies
jars or other containers that you can seal
spray bottle (the bigger ones are best)
a funnel
a wire mesh strainer or mason jar lid strainer for filtering out the fruit and herbs from the vinegar when done.

Begin by preparing the lemons, I found it easiest to cut up the lemon into quarters and then peel the skin off the sections. This way it comes off fairly easily and cleaner. You don't want any of the edible part, as it will cloud your solution and make it sticky. Add in 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, a couple rosemary sprigs, and the fill to the top with lemon peels. Pour in enough vinegar to cover all the peels, cover tightly and let for 2 weeks ( or as long as a month), shaking the jar every few days to redistribute the contents.Strain jar and store for up to one year.
Dilute the concentrate before use by mixing in a spray bottle at a rate of 1/3 cup of vinegar concentrate to 2/3 cups water. Add 3 or 4 drops of essential oils to enhance the scent. Not recommended for marble or granite surfaces.