Garden Bounty by Julie Szimon

I love vegetable gardening! Well, let me rephrase that. I love to get organic plants or seeds and plant them in my garden with organic soil, water them, weed them and see what happens. I don’t know what the PH level of my soil is. I don’t use any chemicals to make things grow bigger. I just plant. Growing up in the city, we never had a garden. We lived in a two-flat on the north side of Chicago. We did have an apple tree in the back yard that took up most of the space. Each year I was allowed to climb up the tree and pick the apples on top that no one could reach. Those apples were then cooked down by my grandmother and made into applesauce. She would can the applesauce in mason jars so we could enjoy it all winter long. When we moved to the suburbs I started a small 4’x8’ vegetable garden. As time went on, my vegetable garden grew to a 25’x35’ enclosed area with 8 raised beds and an open space for berry bushes. Each Spring I plan out what worked well last year and I try to add something new. I love to see how the new plants grow and what culinary creations I can come up with when they are ready for harvest.

I like to plant peppers and the garden always produces an abundance of them. Some sweet ones and some hot ones. I have used them in salsas and salads and I have even pickled them. Last year I decided to make hot pepper jelly with them. It was so good! I made several batches and canned it for myself and gave some as gifts. My favorite way to enjoy the jelly is on toasted bread or crackers along with some goat cheese. It’s sweet and hot and delicious! It also came in handy over the winter months when friends dropped in for a glass of holiday cheer. This year the peppers are looking good, so another batch of hot pepper jelly will be coming. The recipe I use is great just the way it is but don’t be afraid to be creative with the pepper mixture. I added some red peppers for color, cracked black pepper, fresh thyme and some dried lemon peel.