Random

So I'm a little behind on getting photos up, so I thought Sunday would be a good day to put up random photos.

The potatoes are still taking off like rockets! You can see a hint of purple in the leaves. I wonder if the flowers will be purple too.Our Ruby Chard is so pretty! That color is amazing - especially when the sun hits it in the evening.
J is wicked excited about all the peas on our plants.
And the passionfruit has been put outside and really seems to love the sun. The leaves got a lot darker.
And two weekends ago, we undertook our first adventure in canning - strawberry jam. It turned out pretty well, but I don't have many photos. Since it was our first time trying, it was mostly us running around and reading the instructions and making sure the jam didn't boil over (note to self: use a bigger pot next time).


Now we've got a boatload of strawberry jam. So if you're friends or family let us know if you want some and we'll mail it out!

Gardeners' Gathering

Several weeks ago (before the homework caught up with me, before I got the flu, and before I got way behind on blogging) I went to the Boston Gardeners' Gathering. It was an informal event with no registration and lots of workshops and lectures on a variety of topics, but with a focus on community gardening.

Mayor Menino was there. He handed out awards for MVG (Most Valuable Gardener), Best New Community Garden, and a few others. I was totally unaware of what an active community gardening area this was.Many area gardening groups and non-profits had information available. I might get into some things this summer, but without a car a few of the events are more than an hour away on the train and I'm lazy...

I stayed for two of the demos/lectures. The first was on canning. Since J got me the canning kit for my birthday I was hoping to learn how to do it right. I got lots of great information and we were able to get a taste of some different jams. The whole room smelled delicious! Can't wait until local berries are up so I can purchase some and try my hand at canning.
Do you can? What do you can and do you use a pressure cooker or just a water bath?

The second lecture was about using edibles in landscaping. I had hoped they might have more information about how to grow those edibles, but a lot of it was just people showing off photos of their gardens. I get the pride and wanting to share, but I'm not sure it was particularly informative.

Overall, it was a great event and I look forward to it next year!