New England Gardener

The wooden frame around the Just Add Water garden kept the slugs and snails at bay for a while, but this weekend one of those slimy suckers scaled the wall and word got out.
I noticed small holes in some of my gourmet lettuce and a quick scan down the lettuce row led me to the culprits in the midst of a feeding frenzy. I don’t know what’s worse, picking slugs off your crop, or the slime they leave on your fingers. (Left the gardening gloves on the work bench at home)

But I refuse to say goodbye to June with nothing but another rant about the #!*@!!!* weather.

Yes, the soil is too wet and growth is stunted from the lack of sunlight, but the garden is still producing. So far, the Just Add Water garden has produced spinach, lettuce, radishes and today I picked the season’s first peas. They won’t reach their full potential for another week, but I couldn’t resist grabbing a handful for tonight’s salad. The peas are funny this year. They’ve only climbed about 2 feet up the fence-about half their normal height-but they’re setting pods.

After all the gloom and doom about strawberries crops rotting in the fields, I decided to do some field research of my own and went picking with friends at Gillespie Farm in New Gloucester, ME. This farm sits on high ground with exceptionally good drainage, so it may fare better than other farms, but the berries looked fine. To be honest, they lacked the “fresh from the field” sweetness I expected, but they’re still far superior to anything that’s trucked in from out of New England. (One of the big chains here in Maine is still carrying strawberries from California this week.)

Because the berries are good but not great, I decided to make freezer jam with the rest. Hats off to those of you who still make jam the old fashioned way, but my time in the kitchen is limited to 45 minute bursts of inspiration. This jam was really easy to make and even if it doesn’t set properly, the strawberry puree will still be delicious poured over ice cream. I hope you’re all enjoying June’s bounty..between the raindrops.