Posted on 08/12/2016 4:04:37 PM PDT by greeneyes
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I am going to can some potatoes this year. We have more than we can eat before they go bad, even though the results were not as good as last year. I am selecting some potatoes to put into the corner of the unfinished part of the basement and hope they will last well enough to use as seed potatoes next spring.
I would swear my cukes are growing an inch a day! Will have to do another batch of pickles within the next 4 days I think. Someone asked for the zuke pickle recipe, so I'll type that up and post it down thread.
Corn is finally getting some height to it - it's the deck corn - short DTM and should be ready by first week in September. I had 3 smallish Roma shaped tomatoes from the volunteer bushes, and 1 cherry tomato that are all various shades of red on the counter. So I ate one of the Roma type - good flavor.
Hope everyone is doing well. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
My computer is running slower than molasses today - well really yesterday too. Not sure if it’s the service or my computer. But the service is bad even on a good day, so I don’t even really have a word for what it’s doing today. sigh!
I need to mow and weed but it is too hot and humid. Aphids are all over the green beans but I’m too unmotivated at this point to care.
Sometimes I wish I lived in a place with seasons. Gardeners need to have a fallow season for the winter too.
I have corn that has nice cobs growing. I am thinking of giving each plant a shot of fish oil. Will this increase my crop yield or is it too late?
Our parsley has 3 nice worms, swallowtail butterflies. We keep those. Neighbor says there is a tomato horn worm on her tomatoes, but I could not find him before the skeeters found me.
I just walked in the house with a half gallon bucket of southern pink eye peas. They just keep making.
I’ll check the butterbeans tomorrow. I was soaking wet in this Mississippi humidity and couldn’t stand it any longer.
Stinkin’ horsefly put three welps on my back that my wife just sprayed with Benadryl.
Lol
welps, I meant to say welts
Sweet and Spicy Zuke Picles
I don’t remember where I got the recipe.
Enough zukes for 7 pints. Cut into quarters or sixths, lengthwise - depends on how big the zukes are. Since Hubby tends to wait until they are giants, I sometimes even slice them into eights. Then cut them the length I want which is about one inch below the neck of the jar.
Then I run a knife down the seed side to trim off most of the seeds.
3C vinegar (equal amounts of white and Apple Cider)
3C Water
2C sugar (may use up to 4 cups if you like really sweet)
1/3C canning salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper
Combine all and heat to boiling.
Place zuke spears in sterilized pint jars. Add the following to each pint:
1 Clove garlic
1/4 tsp mustard seed
1/8 tsp black pepper corns
1/8 tsp dill seed
1 slice of onion
Fill each jar with boiling mixture. Do not over fill - leave adequate head space. Put sterilized lids and rings on jars, and tighten to finger tight. Place them in hot water bath(cover at least an inch above lids) and process for 15 minutes after water returns to boiling.
If you are not experienced at canning, please refer to a resource such as the Ball Blue Book of Canning for specifics regarding sterilization, and adaption of recipe for your altitude.
One thing I do is to stick a knife in each jar. When I put the boiling liquid in, I pour it against the knife, and the knife helps to absorb the heat so the jars don’t crack from temperature differential. However, be careful when putting the knife in and removing it to avoid damage to jar from the metal.
Also, use plastic utensil to run down the sides of the jar and get rid of air bubbles. I use a paper towel dipped in vinegar to wipe the rims of the jars before I put on the lids.
Little cherry tomatoes did great, squash did great too. Bigger tomatoes are starting to ripen now, but seems lateish.
The Cabbages were amazing this year !!!
Blueberries finally came through.
Replanted the strawberries, and planted new rasberries.
Pole beans good as always. The dogs love them and will pick them right off the plants.
What is difference between "butterbeans " and baby limas ?
I am asking since I don't know the difference.
Those hornworms are hard to see. The blend perfectly with the tomato stems. I held off watering this afternoon, because it feels like rain, but so far nary a drop.
Same thing, down here we tend to say butterbeans, or at least that’s what my parents and grandparents called them.
Here in Western NY, we had 20 minutes of rain the night before last, which allowed the brown grass to 'green up' a bit , but not enough to grow any.
Earlier today it was 92.7 true temp, but with the humidity it had a "feels like" rating of 103.5
For the last few weeks there has been rain but it either goes North to the Lake , or stays down by the Southern Tier border.
We got bupkiss !
Supposed to change for the entire NorthEast tomorrow (all Saturday) with more rain scheduled
Already lost my cleome , sweet basil and others; the only survivors are the spearmint sitting in a tray of water, and the rosemary in partial sunshine which thrives in this heat.
Learned lesson this summer: Don't go away for 4 days during a drought; for next year :" drip irrigation".
I plant winter rye and/or winter wheat in the fall. It stays green and looks great during the winter, and I don’t do anything to it - almost fallow. LOL
You say you have great cobs growing. Why mess with success? I’ve never heard of using fish oil. Ground up fish emulsion or a fish head in the planting hole.
I have heard of using some mineral oil on the tips of the ears to protect against worms.
I am just an amateur. Never able to grow anything until Hubby made me some raised beds, following the guidelines in sq. foot gardening book filled them with Mel’s mix.
He snorted and laughed the whole time, as he didn’t believe it would work. Looking back, I think that I killed stuff with kindness - too much water. LOL
I don't think that is necessarily a regional colloquialism as "butterbean" is used from Missouri to both the Carolinas.
The term "butterbean" is virtually unknown here in Western New York, or, rather I hadn't heard it used except on some cooking shows.
Thanks for the quick response.
I don't know where you are in southern NY, but there appears to be some heavy rain tomorrow.
If the cabbages start to crack due to too much moisture, twist the heads 1/4 turn to dislodge the roots, and thus reduce the amount of moisture they will absorb.
I’m in coastal NC and want suggestions for veggies that can be grown outdoors anf harvested during winter early spring monyhs.
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