What did you do in the garden today?

[Ascholten]

let me also add, it's basically a vaccuum pump and a compressor like an air conditioner. It pulls about 1000 to 1500 watts at peak load and about 800 at lower loads. Startup can see a bit more on the power use. The oil one is a lot cheaper, like 1300 cheaper, and it's a little more maintenance but not too bad really. they are fairly loud, id run it in a spare room or a garage to be honest. it will cost a few dollars in electricity to do a batch. The shorter it runs the cheaper it is. Thing is, you have to freeze the liquids out of the foods, so the quicker you can do that, the quicker it takes, surface area plays a lot. whole strawberries, it's gotta make itself out of the entire berry, that could take an entire day. if you slice them and lay them out on pans, half the time. ive used my dryer extensively and so far no problems at all. FWIW if you are a geeky nerd like me, they can also be used for vaccuum distillation to make essential oils too. That's not by design though so you'd have to tinker to do that.

I have mine in the garage, I also have a heat pump water heater, so the heat the dryer puts out, the water heater sucks right back up into the hot water. I figure the money i save on heating water using a conventional more than pays for the electricity used by the dryer.

Aaron

 

[gtaus]

Picked a small bag full of beans today. Cut some swiss chard for soup this evening. Pulled some green onions for stir fry.

I have been complaining about our drought this year. It basically did not rain from sometime in May until the last week of August. Since the last week of August, for almost 2 weeks now, we have rain either every day or every other day. Nice relief from the lack of rainfall this year. The lawn is starting to turn green again, but the grass will not grow much more this year. My main garden plants were basically dead before the rain, so nothing will improve there this year.

Question: I picked some beans that are overripe. Can I just let them dry out completely and use the seeds next year for planting? I watched a YouTube video and the guy there said leave the beans on the plant and let them dry out on the plant before picking to save seeds. But I already have a bunch of beans that Dear Wife says are too ripe/dry to cook. Will those beans dry good in the house and be viable for planting next year? Thanks.

 

[Ascholten]

if they are over ripe, then you should be able to plant them next year, drying out is a must otherwise they'll turn moldy during the wait

aaron

 

[Offshoreorca]

Definitely a good year for the Dahlias here. I need to order some dinner plate ones, all mine are on the smaller side at this point. This is the first time I've had the ball ones (I call them lollipop) & I just adore them. Your's are beautiful.

Glad you had a good year for dahlias! It wasn't great here, but most did end up pulling through.

The ball form lasts the longest as a cut flower and they're so cute <3 but the dinner plate varieties are stunning!

 

[Offshoreorca]

2021 will go down as the year I got ZERO butternut squash. That has always been my no-fail crop. Well, this year, it failed. I pulled up the vines and saw a few squash that are about 3" long.

For some reason butternut squash don't do well where I am - almost every other squash does thankfully. Delicata is my favourite!

 

[Sueby]

@gtaus I just let them dry on the vine, but if I pull the vines I'll let them dry in the sunroom. They must be completely dry before you store them or they'll mold.

@Offshoreorca the little ball ones do last forever when cut! I've noticed that. Gosh I love my Dahlias.

@Wee Farmer Sarah thank you, but I think I'm going to hold off on the pressure canner. I just don't have room for any more gadgets. We don't have a basement & really small house so I have to be careful what I buy or I'll be on an episode of Hoarders soon!

The squash chips came out perfect but too salty. I hate when I do that. I forget how much the flavor intensifies when dehydrated & over season.

 

[WthrLady]

Woah... that costs as much to run as an air conditioner.

That's what it is, essentially.

 

[jerryse]

Picked tomatoes and made cucumber , tomato and onion salad . Not enough tomatoes to process . I may have to buy some . I do some unusual methods that work fine . For juice , sauce and paste I do what I call cold process . I started this when I had a lot of large cherry tomatoes . I run them through the blender first . Then run them through the food mill to remove skin and seeds . Can as juice or after I cook it I let it sit awhile until the juice starts to clump a bit . I then strain it through a cider bag . I get nearly clear juice and paste without the long cook time . I can the clear juice and paste . Much fresher taste . For sauce I add paste to some unstrained juice to thicken and then can . I still can tomatoes for chilli the usual way .

 

[WthrLady]

Still waiting on the picked tomatoes on the counter to go full red for processing, almost there.
May stroll the garden today and cut down the sunflowers, the blackeyed susans, and the russian sage to get to the ditch. If I do that I'll separate the tomato plants in the chicken garden from the ground so they'll start drying out. The plants look great, but this will send the plant into ripening the last of the cherry tomatoes for the birds to play with.

 

[littledog]

And here's our new girl, Penny! We pick her up on Friday!

She's such a cutie - that tongue!

So excited for all this beauty!

I love, love dahlias! All your varieties are so beautiful. I didn't plant any this year since I was in the middle of building raised beds, but I have lots of tubers saved and plan to plant some next year, and hopefully trade some of mine with people who have other varieties.

So many unused jars, so little freezer space.

That's exactly my problem, too! Our freezer is old, and in desperate need of defrosting too, so I need to get more creative with canning this year.

Lol, we legit need to have our own buy and sell thread for gardening and cooking related items.

YES!

comes directly to us and wags her tail. I know that sounds like the barest minimum to get from a dog but as fearful as she has been, I was in tears with joy. Penny doesn't seem interested in the chickens at all and is very respectful but friendly towards the cats. We'll see how she does tonight, she's fine with being in her kennel so we're hoping she sleeps.

It won't be too long until Penny's bonded to both of you, understands that the cats and chickens are also members of her new family, and adjusts to being the best dog ever, since you are the most understanding dog family ever. Please give her a scritchy and nose boop from me.

Our formerly feral kitty has decided I'm her best friend, she has to sleep cuddled in between my face and the book I'm trying to read, LOL.

My garden has become a jungle - keeping up with cukes, canning pickles and freezing cuke soup, soon I'll have enough tomatoes to make loads of sauce, I'm behind on harvesting beans. I'm sure there must be some giant zucchinis I've missed...also pumpkins and butternuts spreading everywhere. The apple tree is so loaded we can't walk through our yard, the grapes I've ignored so much this year that they're sneaking into the neighbors' yard...