What are you canning now?

[rancher hicks]

This year was our 3rd for growing a garden and it was the most challenging yet. Too much rain, not enough sun. Then too much sun, no rain. Wild rabbits discovered us. Then one bug invasion after another. Last year any type of pepper grew great, this year only the Poblano and Serrano's did ok. We grew more tomatoes this year than the previous years but squash (which we have had great luck with before), would not grow. I did manage to grow huge sunflowers which the chickens loved. Oh, and we have sweet potatoes almost ready to harvest (our 1st try with those)!

Loved the raised bed photos, we have a few with herbs in them but we want to do more for vegetables next year. We'll have to use something in the bottom to keep moles out but it will be fun to try them.

I guess every year will be different. We'll try again next year.

@rancher hicks ... potted babies, lol.

As you can see in this picture I have large metal cans around the plants. Secured just into the soil, I can walk around with the hose and fill each can. Keeps the water on the plants. In this pic is Okra. Grew very well. Seems to me those farms spraying water are wasting it to evaporation.



In this pic you can see my mini/milk jug green houses. I start tomatoes and squash and other plants under them. Then as they reach the top, I add the cans above and put the milk jug on top of the can for a couple more weeks or until they reach the top again.



I suppose you could line your beds with black plastic. a 12" or deeper bed would be fine right? Poke holes in the bottom for drainage. Though I do add peat moss to my compost and I think that helps retain the moisture of watering. Shredded newspaper in the compost would help retain moisture too I would think.

As I said it's a way to ensure at least some success for the season. Not putting all your food in one basket.

 

[Beekissed]

That's great for small scale gardening, but for larger spaces and crops it's hard to imagine gaining much momentum while dealing with little beds and systems here and there. By necessity of time, scale and size of crops planted it's more sensible to try and keep it a little more simple and doable. I can't imagine having little cans around 200 tomato plants or 60 pepper plants, so we mulch to retain the moisture in the soil as much as possible. As we have a well, we can't water the garden anyway...if the garden is needing watering then we can't afford to use that water from the well either, so any water we receive from the sky we just try to preserve.

This year I switched over to deep litter gardening and I expect it will help with future variances in the weather.

 

[rancher hicks]

That's great for small scale gardening, but for larger spaces and crops it's hard to imagine gaining much momentum while dealing with little beds and systems here and there. By necessity of time, scale and size of crops planted it's more sensible to try and keep it a little more simple and doable. I can't imagine having little cans around 200 tomato plants or 60 pepper plants, so we mulch to retain the moisture in the soil as much as possible. As we have a well, we can't water the garden anyway...if the garden is needing watering then we can't afford to use that water from the well either, so any water we receive from the sky we just try to preserve.

This year I switched over to deep litter gardening and I expect it will help with future variances in the weather.

Well why not?

Seriously I couldn't either. I can't imagine 200 tomato plants. Yikes!

 

[Peep_Show]

There's far easier access to harvesting bush squash when they're a hedge vs. being in a raised bed. Vine-y squashes, though, do very well when they're allowed to cascade out of a raised bed. The raised bed of Hubbard Squashes looks positively like a green volcano.

 

[N F C]

@NorthFLChick
Oooh sweet potatoes! Interested to hear how those turn out for you. I read somewhere they require heat curing, is that correct?

According to what I've read, once you harvest them, let them sun dry for a few hours, then take them inside and continue drying for a couple weeks or longer. That's supposed to convert the starches to sugars.

Since this is our first go at growing them, we're kind of playing it by ear. We did try our first one a couple days ago. it was ok, not as sweet as it should have been, but guess we should have let it cure at least 2 weeks instead of 4 days (I'm not a real patient gardener

).

 

[shortgrass]

According to what I've read, once you harvest them, let them sun dry for a few hours, then take them inside and continue drying for a couple weeks or longer. That's supposed to convert the starches to sugars.

Since this is our first go at growing them, we're kind of playing it by ear. We did try our first one a couple days ago. it was ok, not as sweet as it should have been, but guess we should have let it cure at least 2 weeks instead of 4 days (I'm not a real patient gardener ).

Yep that's pretty much how its done cool dark place for about 2 weeks, a month... It helps to put them in paper sacks so they don't get dried out and get stringy

 

[Beekissed]

Canning tomatoes this week....will be juicing some today. Made salsa yesterday and finished with 26 1/2 qts of the best salsa you've ever laid tooth on!

Only 2 qts of sauce.

Can't afford to do anymore sauce in this year of scanty maters, so maybe next year's crop will be plentiful enough to warrant cooking down 6 qts of pureed maters to yield 2 qts of sauce.

This day's juicing and then the last pickings from the garden will be juiced as well, then we'll be done with maters. We'll move on to sweet corn next week to finish up our corn needs. Then, hopefully, will come apples. This year we will drag out the copper kettle and do it up right...sauce and apple butter!

After that? Deer and chicken meat!!!! Saw two bucks up by the chicken coop this morning...nothing like seeing all your winter's meat in one place.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@rancher hicks I love your raised bed garden and that garden fence makes me smile every time! Great way to use what ya got on hand.

Hey guys, I failed to inform you of my success with the cherry pie filling! DH tried it and says he'll have to eat cherry pie now. It is delicious, way better than store bought. I can't believe how dark red it turned, I always thought that you had to add red food coloring to get that color (all the store stuff has food coloring added). I got 7 1/2 pints of filling, canned in pint and 1/2 pint jars for use in pudgy pies, as cheesecake topping, on waffles and pancakes, stc. So far straight out of the jar is best! Next year I need to pick more cherries!

 

[rancher hicks]

There's far easier access to harvesting bush squash when they're a hedge vs. being in a raised bed. Vine-y squashes, though, do very well when they're allowed to cascade out of a raised bed. The raised bed of Hubbard Squashes looks positively like a green volcano.

How can I "hedge" squash? It sounds like something I'd like to try.

 

[rancher hicks]

@rancher hicks I love your raised bed garden and that garden fence makes me smile every time! Great way to use what ya got on hand.

Hey guys, I failed to inform you of my success with the cherry pie filling! DH tried it and says he'll have to eat cherry pie now. It is delicious, way better than store bought. I can't believe how dark red it turned, I always thought that you had to add red food coloring to get that color (all the store stuff has food coloring added). I got 7 1/2 pints of filling, canned in pint and 1/2 pint jars for use in pudgy pies, as cheesecake topping, on waffles and pancakes, stc. So far straight out of the jar is best! Next year I need to pick more cherries!

Where did you get your recipe? What type of cherries?

In other news I'm trying to level things. Since they used "hard fill" I've got some serious junk to deal with. I hope to secure a Red metalic gazing ball to the top of this. I expect to paint it white. It was laying on it's side but I got SIL to tip it upright. The cement on the bottom is more than I can deal with, so I thought to turn it into yard "art".



Other junk will be buried.