Adding to the granolaniss

 When my husband and I first moved into our house, one of the first things we did was cut out grass for a garden and planted a garden in the beginning of June.  Shortly there after we got a dog.  We got a dog who loved to graze on plants and grass.  So we quickly we built planter boxes with a fence around the entire garden to keep our little Mercedes out of the garden.  Our little plot has done well.  Enough to add to our meals, but nothing to be able to harvest and store.  So earlier this spring I decided to talk to my in-laws and ask them if I could put a garden on their unused 1/2 acre.  We got 4 yards of compost and began to amend the soil for the future garden plot.  My father in-law Dan, my husband and I quickly began to install a drip system for the garden.   I decided this year was going to be a "canning" garden.  As my whole trying to be more granola thing has really kicked in.  I grew tomatoes, peppers, green beans (pole and bush), zucchini, squash, cucumbers and watermelon.  I thought it was a good variety.

  

(The garden at the in-laws)

 I got the tomato plants from work.  I work for the Salt Lake County Jail and I work with prisoners and I help teach them how to grow and maintain a garden.  We are an organic garden and try to grow all heirloom varieties.  All of the tomato varieties we grew were all heirlooms.  I have never had an heirloom tomato (that I could think of) let alone grown them.  They are all indeterminate varieties which means they grow until they freeze (could get 8-10 feet tall).  We put up a trellising system with t-posts and wire and have to tie them to the wire. 
    I have come to realize with heirlooms, there are not as many fruit as hybrids, but the are very large fruit.  I have found a couple varieties that I love but I dont know if heirlooms are my thing.  Most of my tomatoes have catfacing (google it) and split easily.  They dont look ascetically pleasing and I dont like having to cut around it to cook with them.  I think from now on, I will stick with what my grandpa (who I learn the most from in gardening) knows best, that is hybrid varieties.  There is a reason why the developed hybrids, they take certain features from one plant and other features from another variety and make a new and improved variety.  So I will grow what my grandpa has found is the best variety for canning, Celebrity. 

 

  The first picking at the big garden at the in-laws

 So far this year I have canned raspberry jam and green beans.  Let me rephrase that, I helped can raspberry jam and green beans.  I have never canned by myself, so I went and harvested and prepped all of the food in order to can it so that the master canners, my grandparents, could teach me.  I was pretty surprised at how easy it is, just time consuming.  I am excited to get to try out new canning recipes (I want to can pasta sauce and "Dilly Beans") that my grandpa has never tried.  Let the canning season begin!