I've deadheaded the purple and yellow Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Shasta Daisies, zinnias, and blanket flowers. I wait until the flower has totally died and it's starting to seed. This is the perfect time to cut the dead flower off and throw it back into the flower bed so it'll reseed next spring. Doing this also results in healthier plants and continual blooms for the perennials and zinnias.
Still have a lot of patio flowers: begonias, petunias, orchids, wax plant blooms, and the roses, zinnias, and crepe myrtles in the yard. This is the month my fig tree is busting out with an abundance of rain and producing giant, juicy figs.
I've shared with neighbors, and I'm also sharing with the bees, birds, and squirrels. It can be a bit dicey trying to pick figs with the bees eating their fair share of these plump figs.
We have so many figs that we've taken up a new hobby - canning!
The bees are feasting!
We canned 6 pounds of figs last week and cooked up
our last batch of 5 pounds today.
Again, this is after giving full baskets to three different neighbors. The birds, bees, and squirrels can have the rest.
We're done for this year!
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This is the recipe I used for our
FIG PRESERVES
5-6 pounds of figs (a bit more than a full gallon)
3 cps of sugar
2 cps of water
1 Tbsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of lemon juice in each jar before putting preserves into the jar
-remove caps/stems of figs, cut large figs into halves and quarters, and soak in cool water for 20 minutes.
-make a syrup by boiling the sugar and water together in a large pan.
-when syrup is clear and just thick, around 15 minutes, add figs and cinnamon.
-bring to a full boil over high heat boiling hard for 1 minute.
-lower the heat ad simmer for 30 minutes.
-there seemed to be extra liquid so I ladled out a couple of scoops of liquid only, from the pot.
-ladle into clean hot sterile jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
