Winding down our garden...a little

[phylm]

Will probably have more than 100 quarts of green beans canned by tomorrow night. Two more 2nd planting 50-foot rows of gr. beans now knee high. Hubby pulled the two rows of green peas, fed them to the hens and took up the pea fence yesterday. The freezers are full.

We have been eating quite a lot of immature sweet corn lately. The fox squirrels have discovered the corn, and are decimating it. They are "protected," so they don't meet the same fate as the gray squirrels. I'm considering that we are fattening them up for TEOTWAWKI. :smilielol5:

Fortunately, we have a lot of corn still in the freezer, and have managed to freeze a dozen more quarts. Husband brought in a 5 gallon pail of red potatoes (a lot of nice big ones) that he dug from just 8 hills. He planted three 70 foot rows (!), so I'm going to be busy canning and dehydrating for a couple of weeks. Part of the crop are white Kennebecs. First really successful potato crop since we moved in here.

Tomatoes are six feet tall now, and are loaded with fruit. We only planted eight plants this year, and will still have a lot to can. Broccoli heads picked and frozen, but may still have a lot more side shoots to take care of. Then again, maybe not with this summer heat. Cukes and melons coming in like gangbusters. Winter squash is nearly ready to pick. Again, will have to can and dehydrate.

Picking blueberries, boysenberries, and dew berries, and still some strawberries. Huge crop of blackberries from our 3 thornless bushes (vines, actually) are just turning red, and the raspberries are beginning to bloom. Seedless Concord grapes are putting out lots of clusters. Can't wait for them!

Wish our kids--or you folks-- lived closer so we could share.

[Noahs ARK]

Phylm - your garden sounds wonderful. Bless your hearts - I know you're both busy, busy, busy.

Don't know if you saw my question on the other thread, so I'll ask again. Do you make Spiced Tomato Jam with your tomatoes?

[phylm]

Phylm - your garden sounds wonderful. Bless your hearts - I know you're both busy, busy, busy.

Don't know if you saw my question on the other thread, so I'll ask again. Do you make Spiced Tomato Jam with your tomatoes?

No, We just puree and strain the tomatoes, and I cook them down to sauce consistency to save jars. May can a few cut in pieces this year.

[phylm]

So-o, I canned 7 quarts of green beans today, but my husband dug all the potatoes, too...he estimates about 500 pounds from 20 lbs. of seed planted. Okay, so we canned 21 quarts of small potatoes today, and I'll start slicing and dehydrating tomorrow. Picked a couple of quarts of dewberries and boysenberries, and they are so darn sour I can't stand them! What a disappointment. If the blackberries come in sweet, I know how to dig up dewberries!

[Noahs ARK]

So-o, I canned 7 quarts of green beans today, but my husband dug all the potatoes, too...he estimates about 500 pounds from 20 lbs. of seed planted. Okay, so we canned 21 quarts of small potatoes today, and I'll start slicing and dehydrating tomorrow. Picked a couple of quarts of dewberries and boysenberries, and they are so darn sour I can't stand them! What a disappointment. If the blackberries come in sweet, I know how to dig up dewberries!

7 qts of green beans

21 qts of small potatoes

:ohmy: Whoa Nelly!!

Too bad about the dewberries and boysenberries being so sour. Can you add some sugar to them and make a cobbler?

Question.....after you dehydrate your potatoes, how do you store them?

[prairiemom]

Wow, you've got a great start to the garden year. I'm just getting mine in this week--provided the weather cooperates. Where do you live that you can start planting so early?

[phylm]

7 qts of green beans

21 qts of small potatoes

:ohmy: Whoa Nelly!!

Too bad about the dewberries and boysenberries being so sour. Can you add some sugar to them and make a cobbler?

Question.....after you dehydrate your potatoes, how do you store them?

I buy the oxygen pacs from the cannery, and bum buckets with covers (with gaskets) from delis, and pack the porato slices in different size buckets. We do that with most of our dehydrated vegetables.

"Sour berries." I've tried almost one part berries to one part sugar, and they are still barely edible! I have no idea why they are so sour. Not going to worry about it, though, with all the blackberries facing me.

[phylm]

Wow, you've got a great start to the garden year. I'm just getting mine in this week--provided the weather cooperates. Where do you live that you can start planting so early?

We are in northwest Florida. It has been in the 80s and 90s for the past 3 weeks, so our green pea crop was cut short, and I think it may stop the broccoli from putting out many shoots. Our tomatoes should do well for another 3 weeks or so, and by then most of the garden will be done until autumn. My husband started planting in February this year, the freezes quit the first of March, (after the 2nd coldest consecutive 3 months in recorded history) and this is the most successful garden since we moved in here. It was pure sand when we started, but with all the free cow and horse manure, we now even have a great crop of earthworms that must have come in with the cow manure.

I gardened in Vermont for most of my life, and I loved it. Florida means having to learn to garden all over again.

[Noahs ARK]

I gardened in Vermont for most of my life, and I loved it. Florida means having to learn to garden all over again.

I lived in Tampa for 4 years and had a wonderful garden. That's where we had all those wild blackberries.

Gardening in California was a tough one for me. Had to get stuff in the ground at the end of January, which felt so weird cuz I'm from IL. Even then, certain things refused to grow.

[sarge712]

I'm in Western NC and we've been at it only a month more or less. We are doing the Square Foot Gardening thing and I love it. I had to be dragged into it kicking & screaming but have since "converted."

[4evermama]

Here in Oregon, we have had non stop rain and storms for weeks...triple the average amount of rain for May. It's been wet since September. My berries and lettuces are doing fab but I am starting to worry for my tomatoes and other summer veggies. Our growing season is short anyway but this much heavy rain will lead to nothing but rot. :001_unsure: So I'm sitting here, praying for sun.

[signseeker]

Maybe the Utah prayers for "moisture" are just too powerful...

[WolfBrother]

I'm in Western NC and we've been at it only a month more or less. We are doing the Square Foot Gardening thing and I love it. I had to be dragged into it kicking & screaming but have since "converted."

If you don't already have it, get the new revised Square Foot Gardening book.

He's made it even simpler/easier to do.

WB

[sarge712]

Yep, the revised version is the one we've got. It's great!

[phylm]

I picked 3 gallons of our new blackberries today! (We set them out last year.) They are the thornless Apache, and I can't praise them enough. Many of them are an inch and a half long and 3/4 inch or more in diameter. Nice and sweet, too. Have the first 16 pints of blackberry pie filling canned and cooling on the counter.

Think we're done with canning potatoes now. About 150 quarts. And husband picked, and we trimmed and cut up another 5 gallon pail of green beans tonight. He'll have them in the canner before breakfast. Finally have a window sill full of tomatoes ripening off--hooray!

[Noahs ARK]

You got 3 gallons from bushes you put out last year?

I have thornless Apache and they're wonderful, BUT I made the mistake of planting them where they get shade. They need to be moved this Fall.

Blackberry pie filling.....oh my - that sounds good.

Ummm...do you 2 ever sleep? :willy_nilly:

[phylm]

Gallons more on the vines ripening. Picked a gallon today so we could combine the ones left over from the first picking to make another batch of pie filling. Canned 12 pints, and saved back a big bowl to make a cobbler for our Sunday "break the fast" get together after meeting. Man, that stuff is good. Suggested to my husband that we ought to put in a commercial patch on our own land, and he agreed. Sure hope we can do it this year.

[Noahs ARK]

Gallons more on the vines ripening.

How many Apache blackberry bushes did you plant last year? I'm so impressed with how much fruit you're getting.

[phylm]

How many Apache blackberry bushes did you plant last year? I'm so impressed with how much fruit you're getting.

Just 3 plants. Their vines have covered a 30 foot PVC rack, 6 feet high. and they are thornless! My hands still look like I tried to break up a cat fight from picking those boysenberries and dewberries!

I bought one of the special "Thorne" thornless blackberries for my husband last year, but it has been a big disappointment. It took off and its vines went back and forth 3 times on a 20 foot rack, but it is only now really putting out leaves. It hasn't yet put out a blossom. It is supposed to bear 40 gallons on one plant when mature. After seeing these Apaches, I can believe it. They are even blooming on their new growth right now. I'll give the expensive one a chance, but it had better shape up!!

[signseeker]

Could you post the blackberry pie recipe, please? :w00t:

And can you do it in quarts instead of pints? I just don't see a pint filling up a crust very well. Our apple pie fillings are in quarts and we use quarts for the Dutch Oven cobblers...

[Noahs ARK]

Just 3 plants. Their vines have covered a 30 foot PVC rack, 6 feet high. and they are thornless!

That's it. I'm moving my Apache's this fall.

Mine are about 4-ft tall, but haven't spread much cuz of the afternoon shade.

I really goofed up when I planted some of my stuff in this yard. Because of the time of year we moved in, I was getting more Fall & Winter sun in some areas. If I'd waited a full year, I would've gotten a better idea of spring, summer, fall & winter shade patterns. Grrrrr

That's okay - at least the plants are established and have a good root system. Once I move them into the FULL sun they'll take off.

On a good note - my 4 blueberry bushes are thriving where they were planted. This year they're covered with lots & lots of blueberries. Yay!