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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Time to dust off the canning supplies

I am in the process of collecting canning supplies to begin my summer canning. It is kind of difficult to have a full job and preserve food from a garden. It's kind of like working all day and pulling a second shift at night. Later on when you have the canned and frozen vegetables to serve, it really is worth it.

Here is a tip for you. This past weekend, the Red Plum insert in the paper had coupons for Ball and Kerr canning jars and lids. I used the coupons last year and saved big on the jars I bought. I will admit I was pretty excited to get that savings again this year. I also read that the jars are now on sale at some WalMart stores and also at Tractor Supply.

Of course I will reuse the jars I have left from last year. My daughter-in-law just brought me some more jars to use, that I think she got at a yard sale. That was very sweet. Looks like I won't have to buy too many jars but I will need lids and rings. Some family members I gave some canned food last year are returning their empties in anticipation of canning season. I really appreciate that, too.

These are some of my green beans from last year. I think I only have one can left. The great thing is that I have blooms on my green beans so I will have some to can very soon.

My husband has already told me I will have to make some relish again this year. The relish was a big hit. I am hoping to have cabbage from my garden to use this year.

Of course I will can more hot peppers and more pickles. That goes without saying.

The jars can also be used for many things around the house. A couple of years ago, at a cookie swap, one of the creative gift ideas was a jar filled with a dozen cookies and tied with a colorful ribbon. I often store homemade salad dressing in some of the empty jars I always have. They are easy to clean and clean up nicely in the dishwasher, plus they store well in the basement or a garage shelf because they are easy to clean up.

So get your coupons, dust off your pressure cooker and start canning. I will be ready when my veggies are. (I hope.)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Working on last year's failures

Last year in our garden, we had some successes and some very big failures.

One of those failures was our "corn garden." It was hard to call it a corn garden because we planted corn three times and didn't have any corn -- well, maybe we had a few very pitiful ears, but for all the effort it was just a huge failure. We didn't really know if it was the soil, the weather, the seed, or a failure to apply fertilizer correctly.

During the summer, we sent a soil sample in to our county extension agent and received a report telling us we needed to apply some lime and the fertilizer we needed to grow vegetables successfully, which was 10-10-10.

Later in the fall, we decided to plant some greens there. We felt after the failure of the summer, we needed to plant something else. The greens grew, but not that well. They were scraggly and most of them didn't grow very well. I think I also recall adding some manure to it, too.

This spring, we almost didn't plan in that spot. We were beginning to think we needed to amend it with some kind of cover crop and try it next year. But, when we got to the point of needing to plant corn the main garden, it was practically full so we decided it really couldn't hurt to try and grow something in the smaller, lower garden.

This is how it looked when the seeds began to sprout. Promising, but not wonderful.

I can tell you that now the garden is still not the perfect place to plant, but I do think we can now officially call it a "corn garden." We now have rows of corn growing well and looking pretty and there are even some okra plants, yellow squash, melons and maybe a pumpkin.

We did have to fill in places where corn didn't grow at first. The new corn sprouted and has almost caught up with the older corn. We are very encouraged and think that one day, if we continue to plant, it will really be a nice garden spot. There is a lot to be said for just not giving up -- that will be a good object lesson for me when I get discouraged.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Photo of the week

This spaghetti squash is my photo of the week. I don't think I could possibly show a photo I would like quite so well. The spaghetti squash were planted behind the acorn squash and in front of the very tall parsnips. They were out of sight and definitely out of mind.

That is what made their appearance such a welcome surprise. This one climbed halfway up the wire trellis and showed itself by growing up and over the wire. I especially like the tendrils shaped like curlicues. They wrap themselves around each level of the wire as they grow, pulling themselves up to catch more of the sun.

The squash is like different shades of the same color and eventually should be a whitish-yellow. They could grow quite large but I won't know just how large for awhile. It should take awhile for it to mature -- like butternuts and acorn squashes.

It has always been one of my favorite hard squashes because I use it like wheat pasta with my spaghetti sauce. I usually cut it in half, place it in a bowl with about a half cup of water and microwave it a few minutes at a time until it is soft and the insides look -- well, kind of like spaghetti. Using a fork I rake the insides out into a bowl -- or my plate and I either use it as a vegetable or as a base for my spaghetti sauce. I think it is yummy and it has a very low glycemic index so it is very good for you.

It's a new vegetable for us this year and so far, I also like to see them grow.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

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