Grow Your Own: Backyard and Community Garden Program Update

This last month, our gardeners were delighted to welcome some of their first harvests of the season. We experienced lots and lots of rain, which led many of our squash plants to bloom and take off overnight. I made zucchini lasagna with my Green Tiger Hybrid Summer Squash harvest. It was delicious. Recipe linked here.

On July 15th, we had our Food Preservation class, which has been much anticipated throughout the season. We talked about food safety, canning, freezing, and dehydrating (which proves to be rather difficult due to the humidity in our area). We had guests from UT Extension and Susan, a home canning expert, help lead this lesson!

I also asked that our gardeners share photos of their garden through their eyes for virtual garden tours. At our meeting, they shared their experience, lessons learned, and progress so far. I have included all their photos below!