Weekly Gardening Thread – 2009 Vol.9 – July 10

FreeRepublic | 7-10-2009 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.

[Red_Devil 232]

Freezing my sauces - that is what I have been doing also. But when Katrina blew through this area my wife and I were without power for two weeks. I am just thinking ahead here - something that only would need a heat source and a meal could be had.

[Red_Devil 232]

It is the same with catfish. Wild vs pond raised - then wild wins the tast contest!

[Red_Devil 232]

Everything I have read about canning tomatoes using open the boiling bath method says to add an acid like lemon juice to each jar. This is done because tomatoes today, according to the so called experts, do not have the acid content that they used to! I use lime because it is milder, at least to my taste buds.

Just wondering when canning Heirloom tomatoes in today's world, is the addition of an acid like lime juice required?

[JRochelle]

I think that is not necessary. Just my opinion. I have never had an issue with spoilage.

Example, Brandywine is an heirloom and they have less acid than a lot of tomatoes.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I've been using my pressure canner quite a bit lately. The local grocer had chicken on sale for $0.39 and I bought 85 lbs. I froze half and canned the other half. Turned out really well ... great for making soup since I canned it in a really nicely spiced and flavored broth, but also very useful when I need to throw something together quick. I like to take a box of Tuna Helper and use chicken instead of tuna. Add some garden peas and mushrooms and you have a good, hot, filling and very quick meal if you add a small side salad and a piece of garlic bread. But I digress ...

Do you have the Ball Blue Book of Preserving? If so, all of the directions you need for pressure canning are contained therein, but if you have any other questions, I'd be more than happy to try to help. I've been canning tomato sauce this past week, but haven't gotten around to doing any containing meat, so the hot water canner has been adequate.

I'm giving serious consideration to canning some speckled butter beans and purple hull peas this year, although I've never seen it done. I usually freeze those. But, after being blanched before freezing, they never produce pot liquor quite as good as they do when they haven't been blanched. Sooooo, I'm going to put some up using the pressure canning method and see how they turn out.

[sockmonkey]

Lovely pic. You’re squash in the background looks great.
It also looks like it’s not 104 degrees there. TX is too hot this year-
I think yesterday it hailed in Dallas, even though the temp was 100..weird.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Of course you keep them in the fridge, lol, but you can either peel them or leave the peel on - doesn’t matter - I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. I served them at my last party and the ladies were just thrilled and kept pulling their husband’s over saying “Try her homemade pickles” lol yeah, really homemade... ;^)

[Richard Kimball]

The treatment you need is called Rot Stop...

Sounds like a burger chain in Philadelphia.

[Red_Devil 232]

Ooooo canned speckled butter beans and purple hull peas! The pot liquor would be right there in the jar! Interesting, the same would be true of Red Beans - for Red Beans and rice. I guess you would cook up a big ole pot of Red Beans with all the ingredients - sausage etc. and just pressure can it?

[HiramQuick]

I need to do Marion tomatoes next year. They are just as good as rutgers without all the “issues” an open pollinated seed has. Thanks for bringing back a name I had forgot. Need to take gingko biloba, but can’t remember where I put it ....

[Tarheel]

I cut my first hydrangeas to dry for winter bouquets today. They still have good color. Am anxious to see how well they dry this year.

[HiramQuick]

R&R is ALWAYS good, and my downtime is centered around the things I enjoy most ... meeting interesting people and poking around the non-commercial gardens created by homeowners that are talented amateur horticultural artists.

It is amazing at the skill level of ordinary people and what they can do. I found a small Lutheran church this week in an obscure MidWest town that established a memorial garden in the back of their sanctuary. Done in memory of past and long gone members ... it was done as well as any commercial/landscape architectural firm could produce.

Things like that excite me. That and the stories behind each plant, stone, whimsical device and the creation of beauty with simplicity.

I make 4 to five trips a year on my “scooter” seeking out the extraordinary created by the ordinary .... someday I will write a photo essay book. So many talented people amongst us. And .. the verbose one needs to shutup. Sorry, I get passionate about gardeners and what they can do. It gives my mind a reprieve from the rest of the junk it is bombarded with daily.

Funny.... weeds in the lawn. People work hard to get the clover out. In the late 60’s I managed a sod farm that purposely seeded 10% clover to aid in nitrogen enhancement. It was a good idea then, and is still a good idea now. I am not an organic freak, but we do spend too much money on chemicals/fertilizers making our lawns perfect and in reality are making them “weak” in the process. Life is a paradox .... another topic

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We have a lovely hydrangea at work that is off in a corner and out of view. I cut branches off of ‘her’ each year to dry, too. Can’t wait to have a bunch of my own to cut in a few years. ;)

NOTE: Be careful when cutting/pruning hydrangea. Follow the instructions in your gardening books because (at least up here in the north) they set buds in July for the NEXT years blossoms. Also, the Oakleaf ‘Alice’ Hydrangea don’t bloom consistently here in the north. Their flower buds can’t take temps below -10 degrees, and we easily hit -20 a few times a winter up here.

And that’s your ‘Hydrangea Primer’ for today! :)

[Red_Devil 232]

I like the clover in my lawn it draws in the honey bees and bumble bees. But the bumble bees are the only ones I have seen visiting my garden area. I have been known to miss mowing an area if I see the bees gathering pollen.

[madamemayhem]

listening to bumble bees buzzing around makes me sleepy. i could nap on the porch quite easily with them around. we live on a hill so there is always a breeze and the scent of flowers wafting about the place. that is what makes a flower garden worth the effort really, the scent the beauty and the bees. perfect combo for a good nap.

[Gabz]

Without power for 2 weeks -— yeah I can see your point.

[Gabz]

I’m with JR, I’ve never had a spoilage problem with water bath canning of tomatoes.

Lime does work extremely well with canning tomatoes and chiles!!!!

[Red_Devil 232]

Yeah two weeks. The power company that supplied our area had 99% of its power poles knocked down. Not just the power lines down but the poles themselves were down. They got their power from a power plant that was located just south of Harrisburg, Miss. (100+ miles south of us). The closest town to get gas was 30 miles east and it was rationed because they had power problems and delivery problems. A major portion of resources were concentrated on the coastal areas.

We were lucky and had a generator but could only run it for so long each day. Mostly for the fridge and a couple of fans and one or two lights at night. Getting fuel was a very big problem. At one point I was worried about driving the 30 miles only to find no fuel and not being able to get back because the truck need fuel also.

[Gabz]

It is amazing at the skill level of ordinary people and what they can do

Things like that excite me.

Me too, and for the same reasons you name.

We belong to a very old, but very small church, both in physical size and congregation size, yet the landscaping is breathtaking. All of it is done by members. It is not unusual to find a parishioner digging in the dirt or raking leaves or pulling weeds on any day of the week.

I am not an organic freak, but we do spend too much money on chemicals/fertilizers making our lawns perfect and in reality are making them “weak” in the process.

I am not an organic freak either, but the reason I don't spend any money on making any of my gardening "perfect" is not only because I can't be bothered (which I never could) but I can't afford to do so. LOL!

[tubebender]

My wife canned thousands of jars of veggies and fruits over the years but we gave away two canners last year and hundreds of quart jars and all small mouth jars to the Cancer thrift store. We kept just some pints and all the 1/2 pints for Albacore Tuna however I have a revolt on my hands as she says NO MORE Tuna? We kept this All American Pressure Cooker as it is the Rolls of the bunch...