Well it's cheaper than most toys. My grandson isn't quite tall enough to manage it well. He prefers the big orange monster with the tractor seat, which is also too tall, but steadier for climbing on. Poor thing, the patio has so many potted plants on it there's no room for his trike.

I'm glad you were able to get some canning done. I might make my first batch of Annie's Salsa on Sunday or Monday. I've been pushing hard to get cucumbers and onions done first, but I'm losing that battle.

It sounds like your grandson had so much fun with you in the garden. What memories y'all are making!

Dawn, I can't even imagine trying to do the canning you do. I wouldn't survive a week! Other than a couple or three batches of jam, the only things I'll be canning will be tomato products, and pepper goodies, and that's assuming the plants don't all die of some sort of disease first! lol. I'm hoping to keep everything alive long enough to get a few batches of salsa, maybe some pasta/pizza sauce, some cowboy candy, and maybe some pepper jellies. The peppers are loaded, so I may pickle some, but I always get my pickled jalapenos too soft, and I don't like them that way.

I got my seeds in the mail today, so I will get out those Armenian cucumber seeds and start a few under the lights. I'm starting them indoors, because by the time they would germinate outside, the weeds and grass would have already overtaken them. This way, I just transplant them into a mulched location. So far, every one of those squash and cucumber transplants has taken right off.

Is there a link somewhere to the recipe for this revered salsa? Can it be canned in a water bath?

Mary, Well, you know, I am getting old and tired and trying to slow down and not can so much. We'll see how that works out because our family and friends are spoiled and expect certain canned goodies from me every canning season. Maybe I just need to teach them how to can. And then I can teach them how to garden so they can raise their own ingredients for Annie's Salsa.

I wonder if you could use pickle crisp to make our jalapenos stay firmer? I also have used the pickling lime soak with pickled jalapeno rings and even though all the extensive rinsing after the soaking got a little old, the jalapenos turned out really well. Of course, if anyone who will be eating the jalapenos has a sensitive stomach, I wouldn't use the pickling lime.

My tomatoes look about the worst this year that they've ever looked, and they have gone downhill really fast in the last 7-10 days. I just hope to keep the plants alive long enough to mature the green fruit already on them so I will be able to can, yank out the ugly tomato plants and put in fall tomatoes (but as far away as possible from where the spring tomatoes are growing). Between fungal diseases linked to the constant rainfall and wet leaves, and the exploding spider mite population, my plants look like they want to be put out of the misery. And quickly too!

Rebecca,

Yes, it can be canned in a water bath canner. This is a tested, safety-approved canning recipe, from Annie who posts regularly over on the Harvest Forum. I've been making it for years, and so have many members of this forum. Just remember that with canning recipes, in order to end up with a safe, finished product, you need to follow the recipe exactly and not make any substitutions other than those explicitly stated as being allowed. Canning is not like cooking----you cannot change a recipe and make it your own by adding this or dropping that because any change to an approved recipe can result in the recipe becoming unsafe for canning.

I suspect a search here at Houzz/Garden Web would pull up many, many threads about Annie's Salsa. The one I am going to link is one that includes a round-up of the many notes collected over the years that mention what can and cannot be substituted---for example, you can substitute ReaLemon Juice or ReaLime Juice for some or all of the vinegar in the recipe. This is the copy of the recipe I think is most helpful for people who are making their first batch and who are wondering what, if any, changes can be made.

Annie's Salsa Recipe and Notes

Dawn