Hi all, got back from a biz trip to find the garden overrun with cucumbers & gigantic zucchinis, & what looks like early blight on the tomato plants
(It's turned very cool and damp here, bad for fungus. Gonna take a sample to the extension service folks & see what to do about it.)
Anyhow, we packed a dozen quarts of pickles & are cranking up the works again tonight. Ball (as in Mason jars) has some pre-formulated mixes for both bread&butter and garlic dills, so I took the easy way & followed the directions. There are instructions for both refrigerator and "shelf" (hot pack & process) ones. We made some of each & sampled them after a week or so. Not bad! Since fridge space is always at a premium, I guess the remaining batches will be processed. I've also heard that you can make some interesting pickles from squash, so time permitting I'll see if I can use up some of the surplus (!!) summer squash that way. I'm also anxious to try some of the pickle recipes & see how they turn out. BTW, I think my opinion of the Mila variety is in fact quite high. In the long run they turned out to be excellent producers. They have a very mild flavor (in fact some of my Asian friends said they had no flavor at all!), but they easily take on the flavor of the pickling brine, even when left whole (we did poke them with a fork here & there to help absorption). I'll definitely consider growing them again, but this time not so close to other crops, as they're very aggressive climbers once they get going.
Not sure about the 2nd crop; they're growing nicely, but it's getting chilly overnight. All depends on the weather!
