Dill – The Salem Garden

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day- July 2014!!

Hello, hello, hello! We just got back last night from an eight day, multi-state. twenty hour or so car trip to see our families. I fully intended to blog along the way but my internet access came and went (mostly went) and our stops at each place were relatively short so I took photos with the hope that I’ll share a few of them here in the next few weeks. Anyway, it’s GBBD which is a great way to jump back in to the blogosphere and say hi! Here’s what we came home to last night:
Echinacea

Ditch lily

Lavender, with bees

Black-eyed susan/rudbeckia, just beginning to bloom

Bee balm
I’m not sure about this, it’s almost invasive in a beautiful way

Yarrow

A big dill flower, I couldn’t resist…

Pansies and verbena in the chicken coop window box

The beginning of the liatris

Balloon flower rose campionObedient plant… does a wonderful job of luring cucumber beetles away from the cucs..

Maybe another variety of obedient plant? Talk to me….

and the bellflower…

I seem to have lots of tall blooms that would be pretty in a vase…

Be sure to check out May Dreams Gardens for all of the other GBBD posts!!

I hope your all well and I can’t wait to catch up on all of my favorite blogs!

Love,

Michele

Overnight Pickles

I published this post last August and I’ve noticed lots of visits this week from people googling overnight pickles, so here it is again! These are wonderful!

I’m an aspiring canner but I haven’t got it down yet. In the meantime this is a wonderful way to make pickles. They’ll probably keep for a few weeks in the fridge if you don’t have a crew like mine who eats them all before you have a chance to test how long they’ll last!

Overnight Pickles

4 cups of water

1/2 cup of white vinegar

3 tablespoons of pickling or kosher salt

2 tablespoons of sugar

garlic cloves (3 per quart jar)

1 teaspoon of mustard seed or 1 tablespoon of pickling spice

dill seeds or fresh dill

8-10 pickling cucumbers

Wash and quarter pickling cucumbers (or slice into rounds if you prefer) and pack into quart or pint jars. As written, this recipe makes 2 quarts and one pint, I double it to make five quarts. Make a brine by bringing the first four ingredients to a boil and then cooling. Once cool, pour into jars over cucumbers and add spices, garlic and dill. Close jars and refrigerate overnight. They’ll be ready the next day!

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe and a favorite at our house. It’s perfect for this time of year when there are lots of cucumbers to use up.

Enjoy!

in the kitchen :: pickled chiles (littlecoffeebeans.typepad.com)
Quick Food Preservation (homegrownnewmexico.wordpress.com)

Pickles Anyone?

We have nice fresh dill growing in the front yard. I’ve had dill volunteering in this spot for a few years. We just never know when it’s going to pop up. We had it growing most of the winter last year. It’s amazing that a plant that looks this delicate could actually be so hardy.