Weekly Garden Thread Volume 32 August 8, 2014

Free Republic | 8/8/2014 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.

No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[greeneyes]

Apologies to all for being late with the posting. Made the mistake of going to the pharmacy and got stuck. Well I have a batch of beets on the stove, so I'll be in and out for a while.

We have another batch of corn to process, and that is going to be on the cob and go into our new freezer, that Hubby insisted we needed. It's just a small chest one that he picked up at Walmart.

That freezer went into my basement processing kitchen, and space is tight, so I am rearranging things. It has become clear that we need some sort of holding area for our bounty. We have squash and cukes out the cazoo, and now tomatoes ripening at various stages, and the green peppers are perfect and big as the ones in the stores, so most of those will be coming in too.

I have no space left on the cabinets, chairs or tables. So I am having hubby build a slated bookcase style cart. It will have shelves at 5 inches high and be about 24" wide/long and 16" deep. That will give me about 28 soda can boxes of 12 pack size to use as holding boxes which can be dated.

Hope all is well with everyone. Have a great weekend, and God Bless.

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!

((((HUGS))))

[greeneyes]

Right back at you. You are in before the ping today.LOL

[Red_Devil 232]

I think I am about done with my garden this year. Sad because in the past I could usually push it into late October. For some reason it was not as health and productive as in years past. I did not have the lovely compost pile to till into the garden this year. I relied on a soil test to tell me what I needed and followed its advice. But a lot of my tomnato plants just did not produce. Could be my late planting or many other things. Like I have gotten older and lazier or some such.

My San Marzano tomatoes did well and I have canned a few quarts. I will be planting them again next year.

Well for me, it will be dreaming of next year and building a big old pile of compost for the garden.

[greeneyes]

Most likely the lack of compost. No substitute for good ole home grown compost!LOL

You and the others that planted that brand of tomatoes have convinced me that I will need to plant some of those next year. This year is the first year that we have planted a bunch of romas.

They have done well too, except for the blossom end rot. None of the other tomatoes had that even though they had the same soil in the buckets.

Any way, I am saving some seeds from the romas to plant next year, and I am going to try to grow some in a pot indoors this winter.

[Qiviut]

Last year, when I cleaned out my little garden (dead tomato plants, etc.) late in the season, I made it about a week looking at the bare dirt. It made me very sad ... surprisingly so .... and I had to plant something. I planted some cold weather crops and just those little sprigs of green (didn’t do any real growing until spring) made me feel a whole lot better. I guess this is the long-version-roundabout-way to say: what about doing a fall garden?

[Red_Devil 232]

I had the same problem with BLR on the San Marzanos but many escaped the BLR on the same plant(s) and produced lovely big tomatoes. I don’t know why some but not all got the BLR.

[left that other site]

LOL...I am usually not that “prompt”.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

All I have room and Sun for is a few cherry tomatoes. A few are finally starting to ripen, Northern Ohio, late Spring, late planting/

Help! Made refrigerator pickles this week. The green cherry tomato pickles are great, but the sliced cucumber pickles are soggy! Anything I can add to make the next batch stay crisp? Alum? Grape leaves? Help!

[greeneyes]

Plant some winter wheat, and it will be green all winter. On sunny days, it’ll look like spring.

[greeneyes]

We noticed that with the Romas too. Weird on the same plant.

[greeneyes]

I think alum helps. I always just use pickle crisp(which is calcium chloride). I also cool them in a salt water brine in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Then I cold pack the pickles and add the boiling vinegar/spice water to the jars, seal, and process at boiling water bath for 10 minutes for pints.

Grape leaves are also supposed to help. I put a knife in each jar before adding the boiling mixture to help dissipate the heat, and sort of protect jar from cracking.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Thanks geyes,
But my pickles are refrigerator pickles, no boing nothin’! All a cold process.

1 quart jar with a lid (find quart jars here)
2-3 pickling cucumbers (as many as you can fit in the jar)
5 sprigs of fresh dill (or 1 Tbsp dry dill)
2-4 cloves of garlic (or garlic scapes), crushed and minced (we use 4)
3 Tbsp white distilled vinegar (find white vinegar here)
½ - 1 Tbsp kosher salt, to taste (I use ¾ Tbsp) (find this here)
distilled or filtered water – enough to top off jar (where to find water purification systems)
20 black peppercorns, optional (find high quality peppercorns here)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes, optional (find high quality chili flakes here)
Directions

Cut pickles into discs, spears, or sandwich slices and add to the jar with all ingredients except the water. Once everything is in the jar, fill to the very top with distilled or filtered water and screw lid on very tightly. Shake the jar up to distribute flavors and leave on your countertop for 12 hours. Shake again and turn upside down for another 12 hours, making sure the lid is screwed on tightly to avoid leakage. After pickles have sat for a total of 24 hours go taste your creation – you won’t believe how good they are! Store in refrigerator and enjoy within a month for maximum freshness.

[twyn1]

I've never heard about grape leaves helping keep pickles crisp! Interesting -- we have a couple of vines -- I'll have to do some research.

We have had a very good week in our little garden; tomatoes going crazy, still getting cukes, zucchini and peppers. 2nd planting of radishes are looking good.

I took a picture of yesterday's "harvest" --

We had a pretty bad year last year, other than the peppers. The tomatoes were esp. sad. I can totally understand how discouraging it is when you don't get much of anything for your hard work. And sometimes there's no clear reason, it just happens. I do like the suggestion of trying winter wheat, sounds lovely!

[greeneyes]

Then I am mystified. I have never ever had a jar of refrigerator pickles made without boiling liquid turn mushy.

I supose they do get that way eventually, but not if you eat them right away, or else the cukes were not of good quality.

[greeneyes]

My Mother in Law always put a grape leaf in with her pickles. IIRC it was to keep them from being mushy.

She also never made sweet pickles. Just sour. When she wanted a sweet pickle, then she just poured off a little of the dill liquid and added sugar to taste. Put the lid on tight and shake off and on till it was disolved.

Nice looking harvest there. Thanks for posting the pic.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“the cukes were not of good quality.”

That could be the problem. They were from a neighbor’s overgrown garden. Will try again.

[greeneyes]

Question - Did you cut off the blossom end? Leaving the blossom end on can result in mushy pickles when processed, so I suppose that might also apply to refrig cukes.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Yup.Cut an inch or so off each end. They taste fine, but no crunch.

[tubebender]

I think you forgot to ping the members?