Gardening in Our Area

‘Tis the season to clean out your jars and prepare for canning

By LaVERLE McCANDLESS

Contributor

“All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.” Marie Curie

What new sight has made you want to jump up and down and rejoice like a child? For me, it was seeing the corn tassels peeking out through the tops of the corn stalks this year, which means corn on the table in the near future! Another is seeing the blossoms and the tiny starts of beans--whooee! Gardening is fun; you just never know what is in store for you each and every morning. Gardening has been a real challenge this year and may be even more of a challenge as the season goes on.

Next comes the drying, canning and the freezing of the herbs and veggies for this winter. This is so good when you want corn or beans and they are either in the freezer or the jars waiting for you. I see in the newspapers there are many canning classes around the area. Check with the university extension office in Spokane to find out if there are any classes offered at the office or if there are recipe books available for canning.

Meanwhile, a second batch of young Barn Swallows are learning to soar out here; their sisters and brothers flew away some time ago. Once again we are being dive bombed by Mom and Dad Barn Swallow if we get too close to the door. What a sight to watch the young imitating their parents, then it won't be long and the family will head back to winter quarters and become “snowbirds.”

We have orange and black wasps which come when the Sea Holly is in bloom. This is the second year they have returned to work the Sea Holly over and they go to any of the other plants we have. They are a very interesting insect and much bigger than any other wasp we have seen. They are not listed in our insect book, which really should be replaced with a new edition one day soon.

Now I have a question: why are there so many “Siamese twin” vegetables this year, especially in the cucumber, squash and tomato families? I haven't been able to find the answer. I am very curious as to what causes this, will the seed of the heirlooms still be viable or not? Seems as if there are more of these vegetables this year than ever before. I have seen this happening in not only hybrids but heirloom varieties this year. Any answers?

Fall is a good time to really get your garden in shape for next year. There will be a seminar on this at the Gardeners of Cheney fall event on Sept. 18 starting at 10 a.m. at Sessions Village. More tidbits next week.

Questions and comments should be directed to LaVerle at (509) 455-7568 or [email protected].