Posted on 01/06/2012 9:53:54 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).
I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons right there on the front ... I saved $475 just walking in from the mailbox!
Your first five minutes spent thumbing through will tell you something, regardless of which catalog your choose: Prices. Are. Up. Must be that ol' supply-n-demand thing, because I choose to believe that MY favorite seed suppliers would never take advantage of a market that is growing by leaps and bounds as people discover that you can feed your family the highest quality foods and save money at the same time. Not to mention, you know exactly how your food was handled and by whom. It must be said -- produce from Mexico just doesn't have the same tropical appeal that it once did.
These are the catalogs I've received as of this morning. I've put these in the form of a link that you can take to that company, if you so desire. You can request a catalog of your own or, do what I do, which is peruse the paper catalog and then place an order online.
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.Please let us know about your favorite catalogs and gardening-related companies. I know that we all love to discover something new that will further our fun in the garden.
Musser Forests, Inc.
Michigan Bulb Co.
Agri Supply
Growers Supply
Stark Bro's Nursery
The Greenhouse Catalog
Gardener's Supply Company
Totally Tomatoes
The Cook's Garden
Burpee
Henry Field's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Jung's Seeds & Plants
R.H. Shumway's Illustrated Garden Guide* Henry Field's and Gurney's are one and the same group. I suspect that Burgess is also owned by them, but haven't confirmed
I'm sure that if I asked the manager, I could probably have the old stack every Wednesday when the new sale takes effect, but taking a few at a time does the trick.
Oh, my goodness, King Bender. I pray that you don’t get too sore from the fall. Please don’t do that anymore.
If you have a plastic or fabric barrier at the bottom of your raised bed, they would have a more difficult time moving, but the worms will leave if the conditions are not favorable.
I know!!! A couple of others are sky high too. I'll be saving more seeds this year for sure.
Okay, what can I do to help your canning? Were you following recipes from a book? Do you have the Ball Blue Book? I’ve got some pickle recipes that produce beautifully.
Thank you for pointing out what it is that is killing me! My sinuses have been miserable since before Christmas, but I finally got a prescription antihistimine that is working. I have both cedar and live oak, so the mystery is not so much now.
LOL - I believe I am beyond help.
Yes, I have the Ball Blue Book. I think I erred in processing the pickles a few minutes too long.
The point of processing them is just to make certain the lids are correctly sealed, right?
Well, I had heard that one should be careful about overdoing it, because the pickles would be mush - but I went and did it anyway.
I am pretty sure I will not make the mistake again. Soon I will bring those jars up and discard my pickles. **pout** I did can some whole ones, so they may be fine - haven’t had the heart to check.
Can pickles go into the compost?
Actually, you are raising the temp of the contents of the jar, all the way through, and you are removing the air and sealing the lid.
You definitely don't want to overdo it or you will overcook whatever you are canning. Kinda like boiling pasta way too long, it will be yucky.
If I could offer you any advice, I think the most valuable would be to keep your canning to one or two things a growing season, until you pretty much master the art of water bath canning are are comfortable with what you're doing. Confidence in what you're doing really goes a long way with canning.
I learned to make jelly and jam from the instructions on a box of Sure Jell. In fact, I keep one of those instruction sheets taped to the inside of a cabinet door by my stovetop. Helps me check ratios of juice and sugar for fruits. If the particular fruit isn't mentioned, I choose something similar.
Taught myself the art of pickles from an old worn recipe on a brown piece of paper that my husband's grandmother wrote back in the 40's. It took me a couple of years to get it right, but I have gone on to pickle just about anything I can get my hands on.
Now I ventured deep into pressure canning stuff. I'm getting ready to put up some sweet potatoes ... got 80 bushels of them to feed deer, but they are too pretty for the deer to eat them all. Then I have some turnips to do.
I don’t see why pickles couldn’t go into the compost.
JADM, What is corn ash? Is it what I think it is??
I used to get allergy shots, but they haven't been helping much for the pollen lately. I'd usually get the shot in mid Dec but not this past year. People actually call 911 thinking the trees are on fire.
I was looking for those newspaper pot instructions. Is that just one layer around or more in thickness?
I just bought a couple of packages of strawberries from WalMart yesterday and plan on planting them in my pvc tower.
Just trying to help salvage some of the pickles. You can always use the pickling juice to clean your drains by substituting it for the vinegar in the vinegar and soda method.
It’s also very good (a cup or more) added to a beef roast that being cooked in a crockpot. Don’t add more salt because the juice is already salty. It’s give the roast a nice flavor and help tenderize it. No, it doesn’t taste like pickles, lol.
There are also recipes that call for placing pickle spears in a thin slice of beef and rolling it up. I’m thinking there’s french dressing added if you cared to do a recipe search.
I covered my banana's with a cheap plastic drop cloth and placed a 40 watt drop light under them for warmth. Most of the leaves are still green and the major part of the plant was unaffected by the freezing temps.
This was my second year doing canning, so I had added about three things. The pickles I did last year I did only as refrigerator pickles, no worries with that of course.
And I hot pack the pickle jars, so I wonder if that affects the canning time?
The jars I put into the fridge always seal on their own. I’ll get it figured out. :) I think my stove is a big player in this too - it’s an ancient electric stove with horribly uneven heating elements.
The jelly just takes a bit more focus on my part, I’m not too worried about that now. (Sure-jell box here too) Taught myself what not to do right along with what works this year. Mostly with the whole “sheeting” thing - takes a practiced eye - and I got panicky about it this year, LOL.
I may try to pressure can one thing this year. I might wait though until I work the bugs out of my water bath efforts. We’ll see how it goes. I feel very determined to get it right.
If the only problem is they’re mushy, could you blend them and use as a sandwich spread? Then they wouldn’t go to waste.
Hey, that roast beef suggestion sounds like a good idea - I’ll tell the husband - I’m way worse at cooking beef than I am at canning, so he won’t let me touch a roast! Heh.
Oh, like with ham? To make a deviled ham spread....that could work well. I’ve just brought a chunk of ham to do a ham and bean soup in the dutch oven, going to cook it in the fireplace tonight. I was wondering how to use up some of the extra ham, so I’ll give that a try. TY
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