Drew Lawson wrote:
> songbird writes:
>
>> it's so nice when things start coming in. we've been doing
>>pickles for a long time and are almost done with them for us
>>but other people want cucumbers as long as we can grow them so
>>we'll just take them around.
>
> As I somewhat worried, I didn't plant enough vines to have lots of
> cucumbers all at once. So I probably won't get any pickles this
> year, just mistake-based knowledge. But relish doesn't take too
> large of a harvest.
>
> I think I also made the same mistake with the beans. They are
> coming in, but not really enough at once for good canning.
>
> I guess that's what happens when you have a poor memory and skip
> grwing something for a couple years.
>
>> i'm assuming you are pressure canning the beans and
>>sauce?
>
> Oh, certainly.
>
> Some day I'll get a pH meter and test the sauce to see where it
> ends up. I'll still pressure can, but I'm curious.
>
>> tomatoes are just coming in. i think we'll be
>>pretty busy with those. rather large crop by the
>>looks of it.
>
> Mine are coming in and trying to die all at the same time. I'm
> treating it as if it is my nemesis -- tomato leaf spot -- but it
> isn't acting quite the same.

we get some kind of issue with tomatoes each year like
this and since it doesn't affect production enough for me
to care i don't do anything about it. by the time the
plants have lost most of their leaves and look like they
are about done, we've harvested and put up what we want.

any green tomatoes that are left can be set on a table
in the garage to gradually ripen, a few may rot, but most
of them will eventually turn red. we've eaten and canned
them and they are ok. not quite as good as ripened on
the plants, but by the time we've made other things with
them it doesn't really matter that much.


> The current batch of sauce can be
> enough if it needs to be, but Iusually do two large batches --
> August and September/October -- with lots of eating tomatoes in
> between.

we eat them as we go along and give some away, but most
of them are canned as chunks.


> There are lots of green tomatoes right now. In fact, I've had to
> pound in stakes to support a couple of the cages, since the plants
> are so heavy.

yeah, that happens every year here too. as above we don't
really do too much about it other than pick what is ready
and cut around the spoiled parts or discard what we can't
use.


> Since I have them, I'm going to look through recipes for pickled
> green tomatoes. Only one way to find out if I like them.

i like a fried green tomato sandwich once in a while
but have not really liked them pickled. since we ripen
them anyways it isn't a big problem to worry about.


songbird