[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Canning is a lot of work. I remember my father and mother doing it. Its a good way to store your garden produce.

I chose what I hope are high yielding determinanate varieties with good disease resistance. Hope to get enough to do a little canning.

Thanks for the discussion! You also have information in the links on your home page?

[Pollard]

Not as much work as sausage making. LOL I made bratwurst once. Lotta work. Made some blackberry jam from blackberries the kids and I collected around the area. That was a lot of work too.

Yes, I went to my home page to get the link to USDA/UGA food preservation site.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Diana; updated photos. I need to thin out the tomatoes and move them to 4"x4" pots for a while. (As you intimated that I would need to do (with the exception of the 6 tomatoes I planted into the low tunnels...3 EarlyDoll and 3 Celebrity.)

Metmom; You can see the inside of the low tunnels here. You can remove sections of the low tunnel one at a time. Its not perfect, but I like this better than draping fabric over hoops and weighing it down with stones or fabric pegs. You do need to secure it against blowing away. I put them down starting on the lee side and work back to the windward side so that the structure sheds the wind. I put block the opening so the wind will not pick it up and blow it off to the next yard. I will probably try some bungee cords with hooks to secure it. Here, Red Tabby and giant viroflay spinach, Cilantro and dill, then Chinese vegetables (Chinese Cabbage, mizuma, golden Choi.) and a lone cabbage plant!

6 tomatoes in a different tunnel with chinese vegitables and lettuce. By the time the lettuce is picked --4 or 5 weeks--we will have had our last frost and I can plant basil and marigolds behind the Tomatoes.

[metmom]

I usually make canning a three day process.

The first day I set everything up and make sure I have washed jars and lids, etc.

The second day, I do the actual processing and basic clean up that must be done. The jars cool that day also.

The third day, I wash the jars and label them and then put them in the basement and put the canning stuff together for the next batch.

That keeps it from killing you by trying to do it all in one day.

It is a lot of work but there is so much satisfaction in doing it. Plus, you know the quality of it, where it came from, and what is in it.