What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Looking at this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SLLS2M...&colid=XH78LR80UE42&ref_=gv_ov_lig_pi_dp&th=1 electric water bath canner. Since I do so many small batch pints of water bath it makes it sound easier and cooler for the kitchen. Anyone using one of those? IS it worth it?

I have one & love it. I use it all the time. It def keeps the kitchen much cooler. Of course I've had it 5 years & didn't pay nearly that much for it, just over $100. I love that you can turn the dial down & it instantly stops boiling. If I had a propane stove I probably wouldn't bother with it though, but I don't like to use a big pot on the glass top.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I have never peeled tomatoes when making salsa. That’s the fun of making it.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I missed alotta pages yall...
So please forgive me if this has been asked n answered already. I tried searching but didn't find it.
I got garlic to separate and plant this fall.
We are supposed to get down to 20s tomorrow night.
I have NOT gotten the garlic in the ground yet.
But after I do get it all planted 3" deep I think is what it said to do...do I need to cover it with just mulch/pine shavings?
Or do u need a shade cloth thing over it for winter?

 

[Elyrian1]

I missed alotta pages yall...
So please forgive me if this has been asked n answered already. I tried searching but didn't find it.
I got garlic to separate and plant this fall.
We are supposed to get down to 20s tomorrow night.
I have NOT gotten the garlic in the ground yet.
But after I do get it all planted 3" deep I think is what it said to do...do I need to cover it with just mulch/pine shavings?
Or do u need a shade cloth thing over it for winter?

Just mulch it. Mine did fine in CO with just mulch.

 

[Swiss]

We spread 2 yards of mushroom manure and 2 yards of wood chips! Bringing us to a total of 24 yards of compost and 5 yards of wood chips so far!

We are switching to no till gardening next year. Looking forward to seeing how it does.

It looks so good!!

I am consistently hearing that no till gardens do best, so I really want to get my garden there. That's what I tried to do for this year's garden, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped, which is fine because we still got a good yield and it's a first year garden. What I need to do is find a place with compost that is not filled with strands from broken down tarps...

 

[NewBoots]

Momma hen has hatched 7 -yes, 7 unplanned chicks. Well, SHE might have planned them but we did not. Still cute. There are two unhatched eggs, no pips, so I think we will toss them. Funny how they look so similar though!

So freaking sweet!

We switched to processing with the skin on, and will never go back to the scald and peel method when making salsa. Still need to take out the core of the tomato, of course.

Thank you to everyone on the salsa question, I love my recipe and I always get complements, tomorrow I make it leaving the skins on! Up the revolution!

I have one & love it. I use it all the time. It def keeps the kitchen much cooler. Of course I've had it 5 years & didn't pay nearly that much for it, just over $100. I love that you can turn the dial down & it instantly stops boiling. If I had a propane stove I probably wouldn't bother with it though, but I don't like to use a big pot on the glass top.

Thanks to everyone on the canner question! And, @igorsMistress, I'll try to get Santa to buy it for me.

can you share the J artichoke recipe. I got a bunch of those, started out as one plant two years ago, a small bunch this year and now all over. I heard about their 'special properties' so am aware but would like some ways to cook them !

The one I made today doesn't seem to have had the troublesome "air" about it.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cream-of-jerusalem-artichoke-soup-236916 I'm going to freeze some of the chokes so I can make it later in the winter.

 

[Chold05]

It looks so good!!

I am consistently hearing that no till gardens do best, so I really want to get my garden there. That's what I tried to do for this year's garden, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped, which is fine because we still got a good yield and it's a first year garden. What I need to do is find a place with compost that is not filled with strands from broken down tarps...

Thank you! We’re headed into our 4th year. We’ve made tons of changes over the last few years. This coming year is our first year doing no till. We found a few random things in our compost (a glove and a power cord lol)

If it’s your first year garden, don’t fret! It takes time to build the soil health. Every year should get better. Don’t give up!

 

[allenw]

It looks so good!!

I am consistently hearing that no till gardens do best, so I really want to get my garden there. That's what I tried to do for this year's garden, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped, which is fine because we still got a good yield and it's a first year garden. What I need to do is find a place with compost that is not filled with strands from broken down tarps...

Two years in to experimenting with a small permanent deep mulch garden. So far I've liked it, warm season crops start slower but some of that could be alleviated by pulling mulch back ahead of time and let the ground warm some. Right now I need to gather more mulch to add some depth and cover a bigger area.

In the process of moving so I don't know how much longer I'll be using this garden spot, through next spring and possibly next summer, it will be twenty miles away but I will still have things here in the area.

 

[pennyJo1960]

This was sauce learned how to load pictures from my phone on my new computer.
We boiled the tomato to pop the skin then used a food mill

 

[littledog]

I dug up all my potatoes yesterday, and my personal verdict is in, on how to best grow my red potatoes. 6 grow boxes about 12"x12"x10" yielded about 10 lbs of potatoes total. Mostly small, they still look healthy and delicious, suitable to put in the crockpot or add to other veggies and meats in a roast or stew.
One raised bed 8' x 3', yielded about 50 lbs of potatoes, a few tinies but mostly huge and beautiful. It was getting dark too, so I should dig more and probably find more.
Probably both systems would have done better if I'd been more diligent about periodically piling up dirt on the hills, but I'm pretty happy to have 60 lbs of potatoes for the two of us.

Tomatoes are awesome, LOVE the San Marzano! Every weekend I'm canning a load or two of sauce, and since summer never seems to end here, I've been picking almost every day.Beans are done for, pressure-canned several loads, just have to harvest the big ones I left on the vine to dry, for next year's seeds.
Cabbage patch was close to a fail, except for one plant forming a head. Basil was also close to a fail, but the few plants that survived, I'm going to take cuttings from and bring inside to propagate all winter.
Cukes are awesome, still harvesting several pounds a day, making loads of cuke soup to freeze.
Squash is hilarious - I planted different kinds in seedling trays, but didn't keep track of what was what, I assumed I'd have some zucchini, some crookneck, some yellow etc. They all turned out to be yellow, thankfully my friend at work I'd promised giant zucchini to, is fine with giant yellows.
Then, Mr. Dog had his truck parked in back to work on it, and when he moved it, what do you know, there's a squash plant growing under it that turns out to be zucchini.
Butternut squashes are maturing and looking healthy, so are melons. Hopefully our fake "summer" will keep up until I can pick these in a couple more weeks.
I don't have much hope for eggplants, it's getting too late. The plants look great, but no flowers so far. Doubtful if there's time before frost for any to grow, let alone mature.

Successes: Potatoes, tomatoes, beans, chives, parsley, yellow squash, pickling cukes, lemon cukes. Cherries, grapes.

Waiting to see: Basil, butternut squash, under-the-truck-zucchini, one cabbage, leeks, melons, strawberries.

Most likely fails: eggplants, too late. Apples, too much ignoring them and putting them in the compost when they fall, instead of picking them when they're healthy.

Complete fails: Luffas. Again. Obviously the trellis I built for them is not a place they like. They grew well as seedlings, then slowly died in the beds under their trellis.

Oh well, every gardening season is a new learning experience, and I certainly can't complain about our harvest in general.