Catching up after a long long spring

This Spring has been a bear!
Last years spring was wet. I thought it odd, but hey, it's spring in Utah. That stuff happens. This Spring however makes last years look timid.

Looking at the local weather station stats I found that the temperature was below average for 26 of the 31 days in May by an average of over 7 degrees lower. Eleven days were lower by 10 or more degrees and a few of those were nearly or even at 20 degrees below normal!!

It was wet too. having rained or snowed on 14 of the days. Nearly half the month. Now, this is the normal time of year for us to get a good bit of wetness, so that's not a big deal. The odd part is the number of rain storms this year that have hammered the crap out of everthing. The wind gusts have been far higher and nearly every storm of any kind, results in hail. That is not cool for leafy veggies!

The cool wet spring has been good for peas though. The annual favorite of the wet spring weather has not yet let us down. We planted three beds of peas this year and all are doing fairly well. Here's one of them all tied up to the "square in the air" that I like to use. And here's another in one of the few beds that doesn't yet have a trellis set up. No worries though, a few bamboo stakes a little creativity and the peas have been supported.
And here's another big surprise of the season. I never would have guessed when I over-wintered theses babies in the greenhouse that they were so cold tollerant. My first harvest of the year has been an artichoke!
And there's another on the way...
Last weekend was one of the first weekends that we've had in some time that were worth getting out and getting much done. I took advantage of that weather to get some of the plants from the G-house out and transplanted.
Here's the Meyer Lemon tree all pruned up and re-potted. Looks good eh?
And here's an experiment for this year. Potted Tomatoes. In these pots I planted the three cloned Heartland tomatoes from last year, Two Rutgers Tomatoes and a San Marzano.

And speaking of the cloned Heartland tomatoes... how about this.
They're fruiting!

One...

Two...

And yes, all three cloned tomatoes are fruiting!
The plants are a bit stunted looking, but I think they'll come along. The point is. These plants are fruiting and that means they are a success in my book!

This year I'll make it a point to also save some seed from them, but at least I'll have the opportunity.

Today I'll leave you with a picture of the summer iteration of the greenhouse. Shade cloth included.
The weather man says it's supposed to get into the 80's this week, so some adaptation was in order. We'll see how this does for me.
Hopefully the bad weather's behind us for now and we can move on into the growing season. This weekend I'll be getting beans started so it better!
P~

Limoncello Completo (Il limoncello è finita)

Yes, that fast it is completed. I steeped it for four days, then strained and added the cooled simple syrup mixture and voila. Limoncello. I decided to take the pictures outside to really give you an idea of the beautiful irridenscent glow of the finished product. It looks deeply golden indoors, but with some light turns the most pale, fragile yellow. It really is a liquor made just for spring.

Drink it chilled, whether just refrigerated or nearly frozen, and you have a treat for after dinner that you'll truly enjoy. Particularly if you're a lover of all things lemon like me.

Here's to life. Here's to spring. Here's to you!!

P~

L..L..L..Limoncello!

I tried a new experiment yesterday. It's something that I've wanted to do for some time and yet, somehow, after I brought home the fresh Meyer lemons from my moms tree a couple of months ago, I didn't think of it.Remember these? I'm telling you they are the best damn lemons I've ever had! Every time I've cut them, or used them for anything I am over whelmed with the sheer lemoneyness (is that a word? It is now!) of them.

So as I was saying, I brought home a big bag of these from my visit with the folks 2 months ago. I love them so much I wanted to make sure that I used them for something that would really capture the essence of them. The problem was, I mostly use lemons in the Summer with our fresh fruits and veggies and they just aren't there yet.

Then, last week, while A~ and I were at the liquor store we were talking and joking and then mentioned Limoncello and BANG! Brainstorm! I can't think of anything that would better capture the sweet lemoneyness (yeah, there's that new word again...feel free to use it anytime...) than some delicious homemade Limoncello. I found a pretty easy recipe online that even I could do on my own and that I needed nothing special to do.I used a regular potato peeler to peel the rind off the lemons into thin but wide strips of the zest from 10 lemons.

I later made sure that I juiced the lemons so as not to waste any of the lemons whatsoever. That will be getting concentrated with some sugar into a special summer treat to make some lemonade with.I added all the lemon zest peels into a large bowl and poured a full new 750 ml bottle into the bowl on top of them. Next I used a potato masher to give the peels a light pressing, not enough to crush them just enough to make me feel like I did a little work you know?

The recipe is as follows:
10 lemons
1 (750-ml) bottle vodka
3 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar

You can see that there's a good bit of water and sugar added after the lemons have had a chance to steep in the Vodka for 4 days. I'll need to make a simple syrup from the sugar and water in a couple of days and then cool it completely before adding it to the strained out Vodka. Then I can refrigerate it for easily a month.

I have to add to this that I did give it a little "one day" test tonight by adding a bit of it to a little sugar and water just to check if it's doing anything. Oh man I can't wait!! It was soooooo goood! Wish I could have you all up for a visit and a sample. Oh yeah, and by the way in case you were wondering how these lemons held up for two whole months in the fridge. They were literally no different than any fresh lemons that I may have picked up in the store the day before. It truly was a testament to how long fresh lemons can last. Hmm? makes me wonder how old those lemons in the store are?

Hey Mom... how about some more lemons next time your out huh? You should give this a try. You're neighbors would love it.

All the best to you all. Catch you again soon.
P~

Lemons?

Hi all! I've been busy as heck this week so forgive my absence. I have two co-workers out of work so I've had to cover their stuff, and still manage to work the extra time to make up for the Master Gardener class so I've been just plain ole tired at night and needed to catch up.

I also have some really good news that I'm just bustin to share but I'm not sure yet if the time is right. Suffice it to say that I will be earning a couple of extra bucks doing something I love and will be meeting one of my "bucket list" goals in the process. Sorry to tease you with that, but I'll get more info to you as I can.

I thought I'd share a little triumph with you all tonight. If you've read this blog for a while you may remember my uncle that passed last year. I've been meaning to post on this for some time, and just never got around to it. A~ and I went down to visit his wife this fall, and she asked me if I would like to have a couple of his plants. She wasn't able to take care of them, and knew I would love them.

Among the plants were two dwarf citrus trees, a kumquat and a Meyer lemon.

  

They weren't dead, but they weren't healthy either so I just watered and hoped for the best.

This last week they've really blossomed...No, really I mean one of them literally blossomed. The lemon tree.
Oddly, it's the scraggliest looking one of them. (The one on the right.) I guess it doesn't know how bad it looks.

All I can hope for these is that they stay healthy through the summer. Hopefully, by next fall I'll have a brand new greenhouse to put them in for next year.

All the best to you all until tomorrow.
Cheers!
P~