I canned 12 quarts of green beans yesterday. :wow
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I canned 12 quarts of green beans yesterday. :wow
Holy Moly!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil Bit;3969738;
inthegarden - Any tips or recs on freezing the vegetables? If we start getting lots of zucchini and if the weather ever cools down enough for peppers, I may need to freeze some so they don't go to waste.
Sure, I wash everything really good. :) Yellow squash, In a large pot, I cut the squash into slices about 1/4"- 1/2" thick, add chopped onion (you don't have to use onion if you don't like it), salt and pepper and water about 2"-3" or just enough so it won't scorch. I cook the squash until it is soft (it should looked cooked) but still firm and hold its shape. Remove from heat and let it cool. I use quart freezer bags, zippered I've had slidder bags that have leaked, and measure out 2 cups of squash/onion and some liquid per bag, lay it flat and push the air out. Lay the bags on a cookie sheet and stick in the freezer until they freeze and then restack them. When I thaw them out, that is when I drain some of the juice off if I need to, depends on the recipe.
I guess you could freeze zucchini the same way. If I was going to freeze the zucchini for breads I would probably shredd it and then put it in a bag without cooking it first. After freezing, the squash does get mushy and won't be like fresh, but you can still use it in recipes or by itself.
Green Peppers, I've tried par boiling them but they get too mushy, so this is what works best for me. For whole peppers to stuff, I cut the core out and the rinse the seeds out, turn them cut side down on paper towels and let them air dry. Then I stick them in a single layer in a zippered gallon freezer bag and freeze. When I get really to use them I stuff them frozen and then bake.
For chopped peppers, I core them, chop them up and freeze in a bag. I also cut some in rings to cook on meats or for grilling.
You might look for The Ball Canning and Freezing Guide, its has some good canning and freezing tips as well as some good recipes. :)
I love the Ball Canning and Freezing Guide. I use it all the time. They also have a pretty good website.
I harvested my first cherry tomatoes this week and there are already some more ready today! They're yellow cherries, so they look really pretty in salads. My Romas are looking better too. I have three bell peppers maturing and I found my first cucumber this morning! :yay I have it in a topsy turvy and the vine was getting really low - almost to the ground - so I went out this morning and tied some jute in a grid between the posts on the front of the house for the vine to trail onto. That's when I found the little cuke. I was ridiculously excited. :nerd
My salad greens were looking good, but then it went into the 100's and that was that - they fried in a matter of days :(. I think I'll only be able to do greens in the fall and spring. Oh well, you can't win 'em all!
Yay Critical! We get silly-excited at our "harvests" too so don't feel bad! LOL! I saw an article about making a salad greens container garden using a resuable shopping bag as the container. Given what I know now about the heat affecting those plants, I may consider it for next year because if you use a bag with handles, it would be easy to move the entire "salad container" to shady/cooler spots as needed.
Our zucchini plant is so large it's actually providing shade for our lettuce/chard and pepper plants. We ate one of our zucchini's that was allowed to grow a smidge too big. The seeds were huge and it wasn't quite as sweet as the smaller ones. It wasn't bad, but I can see now why it's recommended to pick them smaller. Although - I think the bigger size would have been good for making into fries or thin strips (julienned?) for a garnish veg.
Thanks inthegarden for the freezing tips. The continued heat seems to have slowed our growth but I may need those tricks if we get more later in the season.
Yeah, the big zucchinis aren't so good. We use them for zucchini boats if that happens. We've been grating up the zucchini and mixing with egg, bread crumbs, feta cheese, and diced onion, then frying them up like pancakes. Delicious!
Critical, we planted a lot of the same things. We're awash with yellow cherry tomatoes. They have the most amazing flavor, just drool-worthy. We're also getting a ton of green beans. I sometimes think I'll can some but we keep eating them.
I think our crookneck squash is done. It gave maybe 2 dozen squash over the past month, but now they are coming out with a very hard shell and the plant looks unhappy. My cucumber vine grew well, gets lots of flowers, but we've yet to see a single cuke! The peppers are finally showing up, too.
My zucchini and squash plants are disappointing, but the cucumbers are growing like weeds! I clipped nine between Sunday and Monday and made about 7 1/2 pints of relish tonight.
I'm buying a house and am already eager to start designing my garden there. The house where I'm staying has a nice garden and I've been collecting seeds (with permission) from a few different plants as I wander her garden. One is money plant. One looks like a small form of poppy and the third I don't know, but the seeds are in pods like peas. When would you plant seeds collected this time of year?
What zone are you? The best thing to do is to find a planting guide for your zone. It's late for summer and early for fall to be planting. Something like poppies - where I am, they're famous for making you think they didn't take and showing up months later when you've given up on them.
Congratulations on the house!