Tomatoes are ripe and jumping off the vine. Sometimes they even make it to the kitchen. We’re eating lots of summer squash, and perhaps we’re infusing our water with basils and mints to refresh and hydrate during this hot, dry summer.

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s our harvests grow more abundant and diverse, we get to enjoy gifts from the garden in so many ways. From kitchen sink to crafting table, here are a few ways to preserve the bounty.

Dry and dehydrate

Drying is a simple way to preserve your favorite flavors. Dried leafy herbs and edible flowers from your garden are fun to cook with, and they also make wonderful herbal teas.

Air-dry culinary and medicinal herbs by bundling and hanging them upside down in a cool, dark place with a bit of air flow. You can also spread a thin layer of plant material in a basket and lay cheesecloth over the top to keep dust away.

Many peppers can also be dried this way, but be sure they dry quickly to keep them from getting moldy on the inside. You can help prevent this by making a slit in the side of the pepper or drying them in a dehydrator. I love cooking with dried peppers during the winter. It’s so easy to use dried chili flakes as a garnish or add dried sweet peppers to a soup.

Western Slope farmers spoil us with mouth-watering stone fruits like peaches, apricots and cherries. We sure know what a great peach tastes like. Preserve these bits of heaven by drying sliced fruits in a dehydrator.

I also love dehydrating sliced cherry tomatoes, then rehydrating them in a jar of apple cider vinegar to enjoy all throughout the year. It’s a condiment that tastes perfect in so many dishes.

Ferment

In fermentation, bacteria or yeast transforms sugar into acids or alcohol. You can thank this process for coffee, chocolate, cheese, yogurt, kimchi, wine and beer, vinegar, sourdough bread and many other beloved eats. We’ve been preserving

food since ancient times through fermentation, and as it turns out, fermented foods are great for our health, with probiotics that help to improve digestion, boost immunity and promote a healthy gut.

Fermentation also extends the shelf life of some foods and creates interesting flavors and textures, so that you can enjoy your garden’s bounty in new ways year-round.

Press

Spend an afternoon crafting with the grandkids, using the beautiful blooms available to us this time of year. Press flowers between layers of waxed paper under a stack of books. After five days or so, you’ll have a spread of decorative blooms to use in art projects of all kinds.

Give

Sharing your garden’s bounty can inspire someone you love to start a garden of their own. Be an ambassador of the garden through your passion and generosity, and you just might be a catalyst for someone else to start growing their own food.

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• Plant out brassica plant starts
• Seed another succession of braising greens, bush beans, beets, cilantro, green onion, kale, radishes and turnips. Tips for late-season sowings: - Cool down soil temperatures with shade cloth for a few days before seeding - Choose varieties with shorter numbers of days to maturity
• Have insulating fabrics ready in case of early frosts
• Deadhead annual and perennial flowers to encourage new growth
• Order bulbs for fall planting
• Incorporate cover crops by seeding bare beds
• Prune hedges for the last time this season (so as not to encourage new growth too late in the season)
• Cure onions in a warm, dry place with plenty of air flow for two to four weeks before storing[/checklist-box]