Posted on 05/07/2010 6:30:17 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners! If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. There are many Freepers from all over the Good Ol USA that are willing and eager to help.
I thought a little primer on fertilizers might come in handy this time of year especially to those of you just starting out.
What do the numbers mean?
Every bag or container of commercial fertilizer has a three number code that tells you the percentage that that particular fertilizer has of the "Big Three" nutrients used by plants.
The big three nutrients are, in the order listed on the container:
A bag of fertilizer labeled as 13-13-13 will have equal percentages of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium for a total of 39%; the rest is filler.
Ideally a soil test is needed to determine how much of these nutriments your soil needs.
Also the type of vegetables or plants you are growing may require different percentages of these nutriments to grow or produce successfully. Know your plants needs.
And remember small amounts will go a long way. Don't over fertilize. Too much at one time or too often can overwhelm plant systems and cause problems.
They are rather tasteless and the seeds are too large for jam or jelly compared to the small wild blackberry that also grows in the PNW where it hasn’t been pushed out by the Himalaya berry. I’ll bet you are sitting on some great gardening tidbits saving them for tomorrows thread...
Almost forgot about the recipe for the blueberry spice jam. The amount in this recipe makes just about exactly 7 pints, which is one canner load.
The recipe I have for using with Pomona’s is:
12 C Mashed fruit
3 C Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 T pectin
1/3 C Water with Calcium Phosphate in it (as per directions)
Pomona’s is just pectin that uses calcium to make the jam set. What I really like about it is that you can make LARGE batches, unlike Certo and Sure-Jell, and make them low sugar and it still sets up nicely. I mix the sugar, pectin, and spice (if any), ahead of time and mix it thoroughly before adding to the fruit. That way neither the cinnamon nor the pectin lump up.
I then follow the package instructions to bring to a boil and then add the calcium water.
I always test the jam before canning it. I take a teaspoonful and put it in the freezer to cool it quickly without freezing it, and check the set that way.
I split my canning into almost three days. The first day I get all the supplies prepared, fruit picked, sugar/spice/pectin mixtures made, jars washed, lids washed, pots out, utensils cleaned, kitchen cleaned, extra dinner made for leftovers so I don’t have to cook.
The second day I wash the fruit and make the jam and process it.
The third day I clean up the cans and put them away and crash and burn.
If you do it this way, you can make 4-5 canner loads of jam, which is about 30 pints, in one day. While one canner load is processing, I wash everything up and start the next batch of fruit and just keep rotating through.
I do that as well. And it also works with cranberries and raspberries.
I've done it with corn as well.
Thanks... I copied that for my wife...
Your garden is a thing of beauty! When things start sprouting, post another pic!
Thank you. I will.
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