We're in a strange, in-between time canning-wise. There's not much that's really in season at this moment except for maybe early onions, some lettuces and radishes. I don't even have that much since the the dog ripped up my "salad bed" (planted with exactly those items) the day after I planted it. She seems to be a digger, the dog - we have 9 inch by 6 inch holes surrounding her house and "potty area" like little Mars craters. What she has in cuteness and overall willingness to please, she definitely lacks in outdoor living space design sense.


But back to the garden. We've had just awful weather lately. It rained for three straight days last week and we're gearing up for more of the same starting tomorrow. We're in a "flood watch" according to Weather.com. So I've been avoiding the larger garden down at the bottom of the yard. I don't even want to think about what all of this water has done to my not-yet-improved soil. We basically have clay, to which I've been adding lots of compost and some sand. But it's not finished yet and I just know that all my little veggies have wet feet. Not the best conditions to grow lots of canning fodder, as was my hope. Plus, I still have stuff to plant, but I can't get down there to actually do it. I know that come mid-summer we'll be glad for the rain, but right now I'd really just like some sunshine and a little warmth.


The gardening/canning lull has, though, given me lots of time to plan my summer domestic exploits. I really want to make some gardeniera (hot pickled veggies), pie fillings (blueberry and apple), dill slices, more dilly beans, some scented geranium jellies, maybe some herb and wine jellies, tomatilla salsa and so much more. Of course, I'm going to have lots of time in between painting the kitchen (including cabinets) and powder room, figuring out what's weeds and what's flowers in the to-big-for-me gardens surrounding the house and, you know, just trying to keep up with the laundry and stuff. Oh yeah, and there is this crazy job thing that sucks up a lot of time, too.