Cucumber Abundance Solution

 For the past few years I have basically not bothered with planting cucumbers or pumpkins due to the scourge - cucumber beetle! They decimated my plants and I tried every defense with no success. I had been planting my zucchini under row covers and hand pollinating them just to get enough. 

This year, however, I threw caution to the wind and with the insane busyness of preparing for our daughter’s wedding on the property, I planted my zucchini and also three cucumber plants hoping for the best.

The gardening gods smiled down on me and I had zero cucumber beetles this summer ( NO idea why). The amount of zucchini harvested was and continues to be crazy, and yes, those three cucumber plants also produced abundantly. 

Many of our suppers have included the simple side of cucumbers cut up with coarse salt but there are still many. Of course they get discovered in amongst the vines at a bigger size than one would want for pickling cucumbers. But I pulled out my very old canning book, 

The book still has its original price tag on it - $3.99. I’ve decided to make mustard pickles, perfect for bigger cucumbers (peeled and seeded). 

I have jars boiling in the canner and all of my ingredients set out… I’ll take pictures of the finished product later. 

The sauce with a diced red pepper from my garden.

The cut up cucumbers and onions in the sauce (yes, they look like apples!).

Here are the pint jars in their beautiful, golden glory in their place of honour, atop Joanne's tea towel. Many of you will know who that is. 

If you are curious, or industrious, here is the recipe out of the book.

This time around, it made seven pints. The kitchen smells amazing. 

Have you canned anything this season?