by GardenLover | Mar 21, 2012 | Favorite Flora
By Debra Knapke
Warning: This is not one plant, but a group of plants that grace the table and are grown by your own hand.
Now is the time to order and set up a seed planting schedule for those favorite food plants of the summer: veggies!
Seed catalogs are my favorite late January and through March reading material. You have to drool while reading this description of Black Cherry tomato: “sweet yet rich and complex… irresistibly delicious” (Tomato Growers Supply Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds) and you have to find a place for the precious Pixie cabbage: “early maturing baby variety … dense 5-6” heads with excellent sweet flavor” (Renee’s Seeds)? The Traveler’s tomato which is sectioned so it can be eaten a piece at a time, must be planted because it is so strange. The list goes on and on.
Traveler's Tomato
If you are new to the world of seeds, start small. Pick one or two varieties of your two to three favorite vegetables. Order from a catalog or purchase from your local garden centers – seeds are arriving at your favorite garden center daily! Read the packet, take a deep breath and just do it. Those who are old hands at seed starting know the selection of seeds, heirloom and hybrid, just keeps getting better and better.
This year, we are only planting out four varieties of pole beans, four of beets, five of chilies, two of cucs, one of eggplant, nine of greens, two of leeks, two of peas, two of spinach, twelve of tomatoes and one zucchini.
What are you planting?
by GardenLover | Mar 19, 2012 | Snapshots
Here on the last day of winter, Teresa and Michael are delighting in their latest garden harvests. Teresa dug winter carrots that she sowed last fall, and Michael’s been enjoying a covered row of collards through this mild winter. Now, they just need Debra to create a good recipe with the two ingredients. For next season, they’re making more plans for multiple crops. Michael has a cold frame ready to plant tomato seeds, and Teresa recently planted peas and lettuce seeds. What vegetables are you planting this spring?
by GardenLover | Mar 16, 2012 | Happenings
By Teresa Woodard
It’s time to feed your gardening mind, and there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to learn. Check out these public gardens’ spring symposiums for a preview of the season’s newest plants, vegetable gardening tips, design ideas and new strategies for pest control. Also, call your local extension agency to ask about workshops hosted by local master gardeners or post your favorites here.
by GardenLover | Mar 13, 2012 | Favorite Flora
Succulent – in the food world it means delectable; luscious. In the plant world, the same adjectives may come to mind as you gaze on succulents’ richly textured and subtly colored forms. Thick leaves that store water, leathery surfaces that reduce moisture loss and soft, muted colors that reflect light rather absorb it; all are ways that these plants survive a less-than-hospitable environment.
Give succulents good light, allow them to dry out between waterings and fertilize them frugally. Use them inside, outside, in containers and in the ground. Their diverse forms grace any sunny garden setting. For a preview of the season’s succulents, click on the video below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUafkDjxUc]
by GardenLover | Mar 9, 2012 | Good eats
By Debra Knapke
We are now enjoying the currant jam that we made in July.
This is a hands-on, work-with-it recipe…. in other words, you need to be flexible and work with the amount of fruit that you pick. Also, be aware that different moisture levels in the soil will affect the water content in the currants.
There are many ways to make jellies, jams and preserves. This is a recipe my husband has been working on for several years.
Tony’s Currant Jam
Pick the currants, rinse and remove berries that are rotten or green. Under-ripe fruit is OK as long as it isn’t hard.
Wash your jars in very hot water and pour boiling water over your canning lids and rings.
Mash the currants in a large soup pot, bring to a boil and gently boil for 3-5 minutes. Put the cooked fruit through a food mill and press out as much juice and pulp as you can without forcing small pieces of skin through the holes.
Measure the juice as you return it to the soup pot. For every 1 ¾ cups of juice/pulp, add 1 cup of sugar. Mix well.
Cook for approximately 25 minutes at a gentle boil. Skim off excessive foam off the top. As you get close to 25 minutes, test the juice by cupping some on a spoon. If it covers the spoon and slightly gels, it is ready for putting into jars to be canned or to be refrigerated. In high moisture years (like 2011), you will need to cook longer, up to an hour.
To judge how many pint jars, lids and rings you will need to wash and sterilize, here are the last two years of currant jam data:
2010: 13 cups of juice and 7 ½ cups of sugar yielded 12 cups of jam (6 pints)
2011: (too much rain, a lot of the fruit rotted before we realized that the fruit ripened earlier than usual) 7 ½ cups of juice and 4 ¼ cups of sugar yielded 8 ½ cups of jam (4 pints and the leftover went into the refrigerator)
To can or not to can: freshness of flavor – the more you process, the more cooked the jam will taste. We prefer to refrigerate and not can our currant jam. The room in the refrigerator is worth it.
A note about pectin — never had to use it as currants normally have a high pectin content. Last year, it might have been a good addition.
By Debra Knapke
