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Rising Food Costs - Gardening

You are soo lucky. We cannot even think of planting until around Mothers Day..

I found myself milling around the garden area today. I know I am going to expand it, but I just eyed it out for a few minutes getting it in my head what I want to do. The boys were off of school and eyed me while I did this. I think they know the dust will be knocked off of the shovels soon. :)
 
Hi Jeff,

I never really gave it much thought not being a Northerner, but WOW you are right- I never realized..... Mother's Day huh? You will have a very short growing season no doubt. Ours stretches on straight into December most years! I can pick okra straight into the winter months, and some years when we have mild winters all winter long. I actually am further North now that when I lived down near Mobile, AL. I used to get sick of the garden in about August---darned bugs, heat and weeds!!! I would try and have the majority of my canning, freezing and preserves over and done by late July. It would just be too darned hot in Aug & Sept. Thankfully the wild plums and blackberries would be the first to harvest and preserve then the other garden veggies would begin coming in squash first then BAM everything else at once, except tomatoes! Tomatoes have a long growing season in gardens here, as long as you keep fertilizing them! This year I am going to experiement and try growing some in hanging baskets upside down (Ha that seems wierd) but hey it may be that I will be able to have fresh tomatoes year round if I bring them inside!

Also a little hint...I read if you don't want blossom end rot to try planting your tomatoes with some ground egg shell in the soil for calcium, it seems to be a lack of calcium in the soil that causes blossom end rot! What I intend to do is actually grind up some calcium tablets from the Wal-Greens (The cheap kind made of oyster shell that I don't take) and work it around the roots when I plant my tomatoes. I like your idea about "marking" the territory around the garden, I also read that human hair trimmings work wonderfully so I am having a hair-dresser friend of mine save me hair for a day! We have many hungry deer in our area. I hope between the hair and "uh-well that other scent" it will keep down on the deer, rabbits, and any other hungry vegetarians.

I feel so excited and greatful for this unexspected opportunity to have a garden, and not only a garden but real live hens also! I am like on cloud nine over it all, seemed like an eternity since I had all this! I hope my landlord likes long-term tenants!

Let me know of any "Gardening Secrets" that you have or are going to give a try.

Thanks, Cathy
 
Yes, the calcium theory is true. I put egg shells right into my mulch piles. What I also do is save up clam shells throughout the year whether they are from fresh clams, or stuffed, and break them all up into small pieces and spread them around the garden before it is tilled. The calcium will slowly leach into the soil.

I find that if you stay active around your garden, let the kids play around it, and just keep a general human presence near it, most of your critters will just naturally stay away.
 
P.S. Jeff I also am adding earthworms to my garden to fertilize and loosen the soil. They can't tolerate chemical fertilizers or bug sprays, so I have to use organic, but it's worth it. I actually dug some up Sunday from shady spots around the yard, I will purchase more. I am using a different method of growing this year....I am covering the ground, similar to how thet grow strawberry fields (with black bisqueen) and I am hoping that will provide shade for the worms (they can not tolerate direct sunlight) also retain moisture for my plants and keep down on weeds. It is all one big experiement, but who knows.......it's fun to try!
 
Cook Chatty Cathy said:
P.S. Jeff I also am adding earthworms to my garden to fertilize and loosen the soil. They can't tolerate chemical fertilizers or bug sprays, so I have to use organic, but it's worth it. I actually dug some up Sunday from shady spots around the yard, I will purchase more. I am using a different method of growing this year....I am covering the ground, similar to how thet grow strawberry fields (with black bisqueen) and I am hoping that will provide shade for the worms (they can not tolerate direct sunlight) also retain moisture for my plants and keep down on weeds. It is all one big experiement, but who knows.......it's fun to try!
Click to expand...

You want to know the easiest way to get worms for your garden? Sigh, this brings back memories of childhood.. When we were kids, we would sell night crawlers so me and my brother would have money for summer time fun. Fisherman would buy them every day.

On a rainy night or a night after it has rained all day, go out with a flash light and they are laying all over your yard. Grab them up, easy as that. Try not to hold the light right on them, because they jump back into their holes if you hold it on them too long. The ground has to be wet, so if you are in a bit of a dry spell or just don't feel like waiting for the rain, then hose a section of your yard down right before sunset and you can harvest them right from there. In a matter of minutes, you will have hundreds of them.

If you are going to save the worms for more than a day, put some earth and a bunch of wet leaves in a large container and put somewhere dark (we used to keep ours under the porch). They will live in that just fine as long as you don't put any broken worms in there. Dead worms end up killing other worms for some reason.
 
Jeff, thanks for the helpful earthworm tips! I read somewhere that the worm castings (poo) are the perfect fertilizer and totally bacteria free! I love earthworms! I will give your "worm-harvesting" method a try since we are going to have rain here tonight and tomorrow!

By this time next year I'll have one heck of a garden, I am going to plant my used coffee grounds, tea bags, and egg shells in the garden for the worms to eat too! My chickens will get the other table scraps, I love chickens too! It just seems they love to eat anything you feed them, and I love to see my food that we do not consume put to a good use!

Another thing I just remembered reading (that you may and may not know) is that earthworms will work your compost pile into lovely fertilizer as they eat it up. They make composting a cinch!

Cathy
 
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I got a flyer in my Sunday paper about a tomato plant that grows very tall and can produce 60 pounds of tomatoes. I ordered it to see if this will help me out. I could wait until the market and tomato season is in to buy a big bunch. But I have to try this plant. Don't know how delicous the tomatoes are but if this thing grows I will know soon enough. My problem is finding tomato products that are low in sodium. One store has a low sodium cream corn and another store had low sodium canned tomatoes. Well they don't anymore. Who knows how long I will have to wait to get a can of low sodium tomatoes again? So I saw this advertizement and thought I could dice up my tomatoes and freeze them for my recipes. I am hoping canned diced tomatoes come out the same as frozen diced tomatoes. But I know there are no stores selling frozen diced tomatoes. So I will live and learn. But here is the difference in the sodium content. Regular canned tomatoes have about 260 mg of sodium in it. The low salt brand had only 25 mg. Well they got my attention, now where's the product?
In case you want to take a peek at what I ordered it is at this address:
Giant Tree Tomato - V30010
I also bought some climbing zucchini plants. I really want to plant more things in my tiny yard this year. Cost me 21 dollars. I am smiling!
 
:)Lizgirl, you made me smile reading about your giant tomato plant! As long as it produces lots of tomatoes and is not all plant!

When I was a young homemaker I always canned my own homegrown tomatoes, they were delicious! Personally I think any veggie is better canned than frozen; except squash (taste wise).

CCCathy
 
I never learned to do canning. I might brave it one day and do so. I got the newspaper today and they had a little article in the paper about tomatoes. They say refrigeration reduces the tomato flavor. Now what is freezing them going to do? Ha! I will see and I might have time to do more planning by the time I get this plant. And I hope too I get lots of tomatoes and not just a pretty tomato looking plant full of leaves. lol! I never did any canning because I can't find anyone to show me how to do it personally. I am a bit afriad I might poision everyone. Well now my family is just me an my husband. That lowers the numbers. :-o
 
Canning tomatoes is pretty simple. You wont really have to worry about it going bad if you just follow the instructions that come with your water bath starter kit. Besides, if your nose is pretty good at telling you when something goes bad.
 
I really hate disagreeing with you, Jafo, but your nose is not the best indicator of "spoiled" canned goods.

That works when they are rotted. And with a very few bacterial toxins. But the theoretical problems with canned foods are salmonella and boutulism, neither of which is detectible by smell.

Neither of them is the bugaboo the literature makes out, either. But that's a different story.

It's almost impossible to do tomatoes wrong, however. They are acidic, to begin with---which means they don't harbor the dangerous pathogens. And the boiling water bath assures that any which do appear die quickly.

So, as long as you achieve a good seal, your tomatoes will be safe.
 
By nose I basically meant, if there is not a good seal on the jar, it wont take long before whatever it was you canned, will begin to smell. With tomatoes, pretty much the only way they are going to spoil is if there isn't a good seal.
 
Pressure Canner Is The Way To Go!

HI LIZGIRL,

I ALWAYS USED A PRESSURE CANNER, AND NEVER HAD A PROBLEM 1.

I WAS 18yrs. OLD ENTHUSIASTIC, AND TAUGHT MYSELF BY READING THE MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE CANNER. I NEVER HAD ANYTHING SPOIL, (BY THE WAY ONE OF THE MOST COMMON SIGNS OF SPOILAGE IS THE LID ON THE JAR WILL BULGE) AND LIZ THE TOMATOES ARE DELICIOUS FROM A JAR, JUST LIKE THE SAME DAY YOU PUT THEM UP.

THE START UP COST OF CANNING INVOLVES THE CANNER, JARS, AND LIDS AND RINGS. THE JARS AND RINGS YOU CAN USE YR. AFTER YR. ONLY NEEDING TO BUY NEW LIDS EACH YR. AS THEY ARE A ONE TIME USE ONLY ITEM.

THE STEPS TO ASSURE SANITARY AND SAFE CANNING MUST BE ADHERED TO PRECISLEY. DO NOT SKIP FOR INSTANCE STERILIZING YOUR JARS.

IT IS ALOT OF WORK, AND YET THE REWARDS FAR OUTWEIGH THE AMOUNT OF TIME INVOLVED. WE WOULD EAT OUR CANNED GOODS ALL WINTER LONG LASTING UNTIL THE NEXT SEASON!

CATHY
 
Time To Upgrade

Guess what, Cathy.

Although there are lot of newer rules put out by USDA, most of which I don't agree with, one that you should find interesting is that they no longer require that jars be presterilized.

So long as the jars have been washed, you're ok, because even a boiling water bath automatically sterilizes as you process the jars. Makes sense when you think about it.

Just one less step, is all. Your main point, about following safe-canning procedures, is correct, though, and can't be stressed enough.

I would suggest, too, that there are a few more tools a new canner should consider, as they make the job much easier. All of them are available, btw, in a kit. But everyone should have:

1. Tongs. Putting those jars in and out of the canner can be a real chore, and dangerous to boot, without them.

2. Wide-mouthed funnel. Makes filling jars neater and exponentially easier. The ones made for canning have gradients for determining headspace.

3. Magnetic lid lifter. Not essential. But after burning yourself once trying to get the lids out of the hot water, you'll thank all the gods for this simple tool.

4. Bubble remover. Although a butter knife can work just as well, there is no danger of chipping the jar, or weakening the bottom, with this special plastic rod.

5. Ball Blue Book. I consider this an essential tool in every canner's equipment. Be sure and get the latest edition, when starting out, and update it periodically.
 
Thank You Kyh!
Wow What Will They Think Of Next A "bubble Remover" To Boot, Lol But It Makes Since And Tongs To Remove The Jars! Wow And Just Think I Went On A Long Hiatis From Canning And All These Wonderful New Things! No Presterilizing!!! Gosh I Just Could Have Never Guessed!
 
Thanks for the information because canning is still on my mind. ;)
 
Great idea, CanMan.

Really, anything non-metalic can be used with little danger of harming the jars.

It's poking around with butter knives and the like that leads to jar damage.
 
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