The small garden i planted for Spring is on its last leg. The Texas summer set in unforgivingly this year and in about one more week, i will declare my vegetable garden closed.
My efforts this time around were merely practice for an envisioned Patch of Bounty to be set down in the Fall. My research and preparation began months ago to prepare the ground, and myself, for the work and the reward of a bonafide, full-fledged vegetable garden.
The dry run included about eight tomatoe plants and some green pepper plants that never went anywhere. The tomatoe results were modest, but delicious, and the delight of checking them each day, watching them grow and stay healthy, tended to far outweigh any gratification i felt from picking and eating them.
We have attempted to preserve some tomatoes for future use. I wanted to avoid freezing them, so have peeled, crushed, and canned. From what i’ve read, the acidity in the fruit may endanger the canned product but may be tempered by lemon juice, which we added. I have also read that a water bath is a possible method for sealing the jars, but that pressure processing yeilds a higher quality product.
I have access to a pressure canner, but have only recently learned the water bath method because of my exploits into jam, so i tried the latter on the few tomatoes with which we would experiment.
They look good. The judgement will come the next time we are craving pasta.
