What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Good morning gardeners. Chilly this morning in the mid 40's. Fall has definitely arrived in New England. Turned the pellet stove on, most likely for the season now, There's also about a half inch of leaves and pine needles covering the yard. Still busy with other stuff today and tomorrow. Laundry, bread making and baking a birthday cake. I did pick more lima beans this morning. It was a bit uncomfortable at 45F and windy in the garden. The chard and carrots are still growing and looking good. The kale looks like it may make a comeback and the rutabagas are still hanging in there. I'm glad the new chickens are working out for you @littledog. I don't blame you at all for skipping the canning and putting the sauce in the freezer. My freezer at the moment is a nightmare. There was a time I had it organized. Not so organized now. I blame it on the abundance of sliced peaches and green beans. It's hard to find anything other than the beans and peaches. The only canning I think will happen anytime soon is when I make another batch of applesauce and after that the canner and all the excess jars go back into storage in the basement. I'm starting to come up with a rough plan for next year's garden. I have plenty of time to mull it over. Here's my contribution to the green tomato salsa verde collection.

Green tomato salsa
Salsa Prep Time 45 minutes Cook Time 50 minutes Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes Yield 6 1/2 US pint jars

Ingredients:
3 1/4 lbs green tomatoes and chopping coarsely. About 7 cups / 12 medium .
1/2 lb peppers (mixed, such as jalapeno, Habañero or Scotch bonnet peppers.
3/4 lb onion (peeled and bout 2 large.)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped) 125 ml lime juice (bottled.
1/2 cup coriander (aka cilantro. Fresh, finely chopped and loosely packed)
2 teaspoons cumin (ground)
1 teaspoons oregano (dried)
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Wash the tomatoes. Blanch the tomatoes for about 60 seconds in boiling water, then plunge immediately into very cold water. Cut off and discard the peel. (I don't peel my green tomatoes) so you can skip this step) Add tomato to a large pot. Wash and prep the pepper, onion and garlic, and add same pot.
2. Add the lime juice.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Add in the remaining ingredients.
5. Lower heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
6. Spoon into 1/2 US pint jars.
7. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
8. Debubble, adjust headspace.
9. Wipe jar rims.
10. Put lids on.
11. Process in a water bath or steam canner.
12. Process for 20 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
13. Best after at least a month of jar.

Also from my Ball Canning cookbook the following salsa recipes

View attachment 2869835

Interesting that fresh lime juice is used as the acid. It certainly would taste good, but I've read in several places that acidity of lime juice can vary heavily and if you are going to use to to reliably acidify preserved food you should use the bottled lime juice as acidity is more consistent, particularly because it's likely to reach the average acidity of lime juice that many recipes rely on while just a few limes my be more or less acidic, less acidic possibly being a problem for shelf stability.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I have pulled everything but the okra and chiles now from the summer garden and replanted fall and winter crops , except the garlic, that will be done in November. I tilled up were the crowder peas were and planted more Kale, rutabaga and turnips today, a bit late but some years plantings this late does fine, especially under row covers! I have plenty of seed saved for these crops and may as well use some of it! I will be having much more than my family needs, as usual, and will give away and barter with the excess. The chickens are loving the cooler weather that moved in this past week and so am I!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Interesting that fresh lime juice is used as the acid. It certainly would taste good, but I've read in several places that acidity of lime juice can vary heavily and if you are going to use to to reliably acidify preserved food you should use the bottled lime juice as acidity is more consistent, particularly because it's likely to reach the average acidity of lime juice that many recipes rely on while just a few limes my be more or less acidic, less acidic possibly being a problem for shelf stability.

Have you tasted an uncooked green tomato? They are quite acidic. I don’t use fresh lemon or lime when canning anyway. Lemons keep fresh a bit longer than fresh limes, but it’s more economical to use bottled.

 

[NewBoots]

Sorry I haven’t checked in a couple months, all the rain we got this summer made it impossible to keep up with the weeds and I got burned out around the end of July.

Good to hear from you and thanks for the great pictures!

Here's my contribution to the green tomato salsa verde collection.

ooooo, thanks for the page! What version of the Ball canning book is it? I just got the newest one and the one previous. That one is dated 2020 but looks like it's been updated multiple times..

I believe it's suggested to heavily prune the plants as well if potting for the winter.

I've read to cut them back to a couple of branches and those close to the main body. I did that last year and the couple that I cut back the most did the best. Going to try and get that done today.

Okay, working outside today, picked a couple big bags of green and coloring tomatoes, but to do much more canning I'm going to need more pint jars.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good to hear from you and thanks for the great pictures!

ooooo, thanks for the page! What version of the Ball canning book is it? I just got the newest one and the one previous. That one is dated 2020 but looks like it's been updated multiple times..

I've read to cut them back to a couple of branches and those close to the main body. I did that last year and the couple that I cut back the most did the best. Going to try and get that done today.

Okay, working outside today, picked a couple big bags of green and coloring tomatoes, but to do much more canning I'm going to need more pint jars.

I got my book a few years ago. It’s the first edition of “The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving” 2016. It’s a handy book and relatively easy to read. However on the quantities I have noticed these and other canning recipes aren’t as clear on the amount of produce to use and whether the produce is peeled and cut up when measuring. I always have more to make sure I have enough for the recipe.

 

[BReeder!]

Pulled the fig tree indoors finally. It did lose all is leaves, but the growing tips of each branch are green and there's some healthy looking leaf buds along the branches. I'm hoping it fares well through the winter. I'm keeping it in the living room in our south facing bay window.

Edit to add pic:

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Pulled the fig tree indoors finally. It did lose all is leaves, but the growing tips of each branch are green and there's some healthy looking leaf buds along the branches. I'm hoping it fares well through the winter. I'm keeping it in the living room in our south facing bay window.

Edit to add pic:
View attachment 2870197

Depending on the specific type of fig tree, I believe they need a period of dormancy over the winter. Keeping it in a heated room may not give it that opportunity. Everything I’ve read suggests an unheated garage to over winter.

 

[Sueby]

I was just going to say, I believe most figs need to go dormant.

 

[BReeder!]

Depending on the specific type of fig tree, I believe they need a period of dormancy over the winter. Keeping it in a heated room may not give it that opportunity. Everything I’ve read suggests an unheated garage to over winter.

It's a Chicago fig.
Well let's just look at the living room as a transition space then. Unheated garage... that might be difficult because my garage is heated and will remain as such since the kids bedrooms are above it. I don't heat the 3 seasons room though (sunroom but not worth much as a sunroom since it faces north).
Knowing it's variety now and my possible place to keep it, thoughts on me moving it to the 3 seasons room? It will freeze in there - I guess it would freeze in an unheated garage too though.

Edit to add: I'm in zone 5 btw - just outside Chicago. Winter gets rough. We see blizzards and -40F wind chills. The 3 seasons room is fully sealed (solid walls with windows all around and glass doors).

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I’m in zone 5b and my tree is a brown turkey fig. It’s ok if they freeze. Just remember it does need some occasional watering during the winter months. You need to move it out the the heated room as soon as possible.