Posted on 09/04/2009 4:00:01 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. A couple of FReepers have sent me alerts to threads posted on FR that many of you gardeners might find informative or interesting. I have posted links to them below the Gardening Banner. Thanks to Freepers tubebender and Califreak.
My only contribution to this thread: I planted giant pumpkins a few months ago. One by one, they all died. I think my soil was too hot, as it was heavy with compost and manure. I tried to buffer it by raising the ph of the water I gave them, but to no avail.
This has bummed me out big time. Oh well, maybe next year.
I have developed and interest in canning this year, due largely to this thread. I discovered that my wife has a small Cook’s Essentials pressure cooker/canner that holds 4 jars, but she has no manual with it. I searched online and Ebay for one, to no avvail. Could anyone out there advise me on some basics, like the adjustments on it, water level, and anything else that would help us? I was in the house the day that my mom’s blew up 35 years ago, so I know to be careful with these things.
I believe that’s true...probably at least four x four rows for sufficient pollenization. If you have a smaller area, just try 6 x 6 or even 8 x 8 plants.
What model?
I did a block of 16 in a 4 x 4 bed and got enough for dinner for a couple of weeks. It would have been more, but a woodchuck so large that when I saw it I thought it was a bearcub stripped the rest. I no longer blame my cats for not solving THAT vermin problem - he'd make three of any of them.
on the bottom of the cooker it reads : 918640633 under that number it has 99:::::: it also has 6L being made in Spain, i’m sure that would be 6 liter
On Ebay, there is one that looks identicle to it at: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Cooks-Essentials-Pressure-Cooker-NWOB-NLA_W0QQitemZ370226003699QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCookware_Bakeware?hash=item5633307ef3&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
We planted almost 4 acres of pumpkins and they look great. Hopefully we'll be able to sell them. We're going to put in a strawberry patch in October and see how that goes.
I inherited my late MIL's big ol' Mirro pressure cooker and have never had a manual. The first time I ever used it I followed the general instructions in the Ball Blue Book and everything worked fine. I've been using it ever since and I had never used a pressure cooker before. They all work basically the same, but have a couple of different way to exhaust excess steam.
Good luck!

yes sir, that looks like it, jus a minor differance in the shape of the handle, but the controls look exactly the same, as does the shape of the pot, and the lid. I see that one has a differant name that I can not make out.
Thanks, I just thought that I knew how to scour the internet!!! :)
The Fagor RAPIDA Pressure Cooker line consists of the following models:
4 qt. pressure cooker (item #918011938) includes instruction manual with recipes.
6 qt. pressure cooker (item #918011947) includes instruction manual with recipes.
10 qt. pressure cooker / canner (item #918010289) includes instruction manual with recipes.
Here is their web page http://www.fagoramerica.com/cookware/pressure_cookers/rapida_line/rapida
On the right hand side near the botom is a link to Product Manuals. They are in a PDF format.
Hope this helps.
Whis I lived closer because I would be over and picking!
My fingers and brain are not working together! 918
My pleasure ... hope that you can use the info.
Thanks a lot for the info. Fagor RAPIDA 6 qt appears to be the original mfg for the Cooks Essentials. The manual is 90+ pages and contains much info on cooking times, plus recipes. Again, thanks for the effort expended.
Anyone know why?
It could be that there is not enough volume of water when filled with 4 jars to adequately process. Anyway, next canning project, I will use it, may only place 3 jars in it, though.
I forgot to mention that in researching this subject online earlier, I came across a handy website that has downloadable user manuals for all kinds of items, from tools, cameras, appliances, etc.
Checking in from high in the Colorado Rockies. I am about 15 miles east of the continental divide at about 8,500 ft elevation on a mountain ridge and right next to the Roosevelt National Forest. While gardening the lack of production due to cool temperature is made up for by having views of about 60-80 miles of the continental divide mountain range. It is September 4th and the 4th of july tomatos have not ripened yet. They got a slow start due to the cool summer, but are now loaded with tomatos! I counted the green tomatos on just one plant and counted 41! Hope they get ripe before it freezes. I will try to protect with plastic as long as I can. So far I have harvested two cherry tomatos, one batch of beans, some small red potatos and lots of turnips. I noticed I have some Topaz beans getting large. I plan to harvest them as snap beans instead of dry beans. Not sure they will get to the dry stage before it freezes.
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