In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
Strawberry guava jam moved up on the list last week because I needed to make room in the chest freezer for more frozen apricot products and applesauce. The strawberry guava puree was processed last October, awaiting a day to make jam. Some of the remaining pints of puree were added to rhubarb and applesauce this week, adding color and bright flavor.
My grandmother had a small strawberry guava tree in her yard in Laguna Beach. She made a delicate strawberry guava jelly but I prefer the richness and color of the jam. My recipe came from a family who moved to San Diego from Wisconsin in 1888. They had planned to grow lemons but trees were not available so they had a strawberry guava ranch.
Read more about strawberry guavas in Strawberry Guava Redux, Part 1 or use the search feature on my blog for other ramblings about strawberry guavas and their uses.
We’re still picking (or picking up drops) from the Blenheim apricot tree—usually several pounds a day. This week I made two quarts of apricot puree to freeze for ice cream later in the summer or even mid-winter.
Then there was the first apricot-almond cobbler of the season.
Few of the marionberries make it to the kitchen. My husband and I cruise the twenty foot stretch of canes eating the ripe ones as we go. Warmed by the sun, they are at their best. The botrytis fungus has yet to affect them as it has for the past five cool summers. Our solar data shows a sunnier June which may be the answer.
I used the last of our Yukon Gem potatoes along with a spring onion and dill from the garden for a simple potato salad. I dressed it with lime juice I had frozen earlier and EVOO.
I have a five foot high dill forest in the garden. Swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs there and I’m careful to relocate tiny caterpillars when I harvest. The hover flies love the flower heads.
I’ve yet to saturate the neighborhood with zucchini but I may be getting close. I ask first, then drop off.
The lavender is blooming now and I have lime juice in the freezer. Lavender limeade to refresh me this week as I process fruit.
I’m enchanted with the Apricotta cosmos grown from Botanical Interest seed. It blends well with a nearby alstroemeria. Here they appear more pink and less “apricot.” in color. They’re a modest 24-30 inches tall so they don’t overtake the garden. I’ll plant them again next year. Maybe they’ll just show up.
Check the What I’m Planting Now page as I plant the summer garden. Then head today to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog and see what garden bloggers around the world harvested last week.
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