Storage

This time of year, most of gardening is about the storage.  Once again we had our first frost while I was gone at Elkridge, but it has only frosted twice so far, and today it was hot again (nearly 30C). As a result of the warmth, I haven't brought many tomatoes in, but I did bring in anything long and vine like. In addition, we've made 3 batches of salsa and lots of pickles. In the garden I still have beets, chard, spinach, kohlrabi, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots and potatoes.

So far I am storing in the cold storage:

• 13 squash
• 4 medium pumpkins, 7 small
• 23 liters salsa
• 21 liters dill pickles
• 12 500 ml jars rhubarb BBQ sauce
• 14 250 jars of raspberry jam
• 7 small jars taco sauce
• 4 500 ml raspberry sauce
• 6 500 ml saskatoon berry sauce
• 7 500 ml jars chutney
• 7 250 ml jars of apple sauce, and 3 500ml apple sauce

Frozen:

• 1 bag jalapeno peppers
• 1 bag habanero peppers
• 1 bag red chili peppers
• 5 small jars pesto
• 16 cups strawberries
• 32 cups rhubarb
• 40 cups apples
• 34 cups raspberries
• 8 cups zucchini
• 26 cups saskatoons
• 12 cups basil
• 3 cups oregano
• 4 cups mint

Leftover from last year I have 1 jar pickled beet, 2 jars apple sauce and 1 jar jam.  Not bad, really. My family will eat almost all of it by June next year, and we ate as much of our harvest as we could this summer.

My harvest was similar to previous years in many areas, although I got a lot more peppers and tomatoes this year than either of the last two.  We made dramatically more pickles and salsa, but I froze similar amounts of spices. I am really glad to have this blog as a comparison point, because it helps me know what to grow and how to save it.  For example, if I look at my harvest in 2009, I can see I almost had enough salsa with 18 liters.  I knew how much more to make this year as a result.