A little of this and that...

The weather was beautiful on Sunday so I was able to open the windows and turn on the stove.  The first round of beans have been canned a dilly beans.  I have added the recipe from the Ball Canning and Freezing book which has been by my side for over 25 years.  It came with my pressure cooker and I use it all the time.

I ran across something somewhat alarming while out in the garden picking beans so I picked around the affected plants and did them last.  After some research, I decided I damage them while using the Weed Dragon to kill some weeds along the fence somewhat near the beans.  If anyone thinks otherwise, chime in and let me know.

The heat has been a killer and I dread what the water and electric bill will be from this heat wave.  I have been looking around at how other municipalities are dealing with tree watering, as Milwaukee has been trying to keep the new stuff going with water trucks.  I saw some water bags along the boulevards in West Allis on their new trees.  Alverno College had these water bins around their trees to do the slow soak.

The onions started bending over before vacation so I pushed them all down.  (See Onions post from 8/16/11) After a week or so of dying back, I pulled the plants, trimmed the roots and cut the tops to about 2-3" over the onion bulb.  I cured them in the trays in the garage for most of the period (it was just too darn hot for man and onion in that sun).  I pulled them out in the sun on the milder temperature days to dry them and now they are ready for storage.  Store onions in a cool, dry, dark location.  It is a beautiful crop that I am happy to have.  Now I have to get some lettuce in the ground for fall harvest.