[Amy Jo]

I doubt we will have a garden this year, since the property will be all tore up with putting in our house. Although I've had gardens in the past, they haven't been as well planned as I want my big garden to be, because i had no room to store canned goods.

When I canned with my ex mother in law years ago, we used to make spaghetti sauce. It would cook down all day and still she bought tomato paste to thicken it. I would love to make spaghetti sauce again.. with a lot more in it than she put in... like onions, mushrooms, peppers, garlic, and even some with meat. However, I would like to know if anyone has ever used paste tomatoes to make sauce and would this eliminate the need to add canned paste?

My grandmother used to make a corn relish, but going through her recipes... I couldn't find her recipe for that. Does anyone here make that? My husband has never tasted it and I'd like to make some for him.

What are your most creative canned items? My daughter (who is so NOT into gardening or preserving... so I thought) wants to make salsa. Do you have a salsa recipe that you're especially pleased with?

Last week a friend of mine mentioned canning meat. She says you just put the meat in the jars with seasonings and cook it a long time - adding no liquid and it is wonderful. I've seen posts here that talk about canned meat... Do you have a favorite way of doing that?

I wish I had a relative to share these ideas with, but it skipped a generation in my family. My mother never canned or quilted. I'm so excited to see what you all are going to post...

 

[pumpkinlady]

I have a wonderful BBQ Pepper recipe. It calls for hot or mild banana peppers. It is great on meat, potatoes, or even in eggs. Let me know when your ready to can and I will dig out my old recipes for you. You are not that far from me and if you are interested I should have some extra sweet corn I could give you. I freeze all my corn; seems to taste fresher that way. Laurie

 

[Amy Jo]

I have a wonderful BBQ Pepper recipe. It calls for hot or mild banana peppers. It is great on meat, potatoes, or even in eggs. Let me know when your ready to can and I will dig out my old recipes for you. You are not that far from me and if you are interested I should have some extra sweet corn I could give you. I freeze all my corn; seems to taste fresher that way. Laurie

Thank you. My husband loves spicy things... I'm more a mild kinda girl myself. I always tell him he likes to scare his taste buds to death with the foods he puts in his mouth.. :haha:

I love frozen vegetables! I just am not certain how to freeze them that will make them last. I have one of those food savers, but sometimes notice that when I take a package out of the freezer it came unsealed.

I wish we could've been in our house by now and then i could have a garden, but I'm sure I'll be busy with landscaping and putting in the orchard to get it started this year... and maybe some berry plants. We have TONS of wild blueberry plants on the property, but I picked them last year and they had no flavor... I was bummed because blueberry plants are so expensive!

Do you do a lot of canning? If so, and you could use an extra set of hands, I am hereby volunteering for "on the job training".

 

[suelandress]

Re: Blueberry plants

Why not propogate some from a friends'?

Highbush blueberries: 1/2-3/4 inch softwood shoots from midsummer cuttings. Retain the top 3-4 leaves, root in free-draining medium at 64-68 degrees. Pot in spring

Lowbush: cut rhizomes into 4 inch pieces and root in perlite with 68 degree bottom heat

(From the book : Plant Propogation, by Allan Toogood, editor, AHS)

 

[Guest]

you don't need to put a garden in the ground to enjoy fresh vegitables - use containers!
a 5 gal pail will grow a standard tomato plant, another pail for a cucumber trained on a trellis, and yet another pail for peppers. You can also plant peas, beans, herbs, carrots, zuccuni, lettuce and onions in containers. The only thing I haven't seen or done in a container was corn, but I bet if you got a whiskey barrel or something big that won't tip over it could work too.
Put these near the house so its easy to water and harvest, move them when you need to work on the house. It won't be the biggest garden you've ever had but at least you can enjoy fresh vegies.

good luck

 

[Amy Jo]

you don't need to put a garden in the ground to enjoy fresh vegitables - use containers!
a 5 gal pail will grow a standard tomato plant, another pail for a cucumber trained on a trellis, and yet another pail for peppers. You can also plant peas, beans, herbs, carrots, zuccuni, lettuce and onions in containers. The only thing I haven't seen or done in a container was corn, but I bet if you got a whiskey barrel or something big that won't tip over it could work too.
Put these near the house so its easy to water and harvest, move them when you need to work on the house. It won't be the biggest garden you've ever had but at least you can enjoy fresh vegies.

good luck

Thank you, that's a good idea and one I probably wouldn't have thought of... have those "rows" all lined up in my head..

 

[Cedar]

We make spaghetti sauce every year! We’d spend all morning smashing them through the juicer. My father would crank then I would smash, then he would smash and I would crank…then if I had friends over, they would smash and crank also. Then the juice would sit in big kettles boiling away all day. I don’t really have information beyond that because as far as I know, the recipe is in my mother’s head. I was to tired by then to even care but we did have the best sauce. I do know we use a combination of paste tomatoes and traditional kinds like Brandywine and Bigboy.

 

[stuckinsd]

I love canning salsa, and have a pretty good reciped if you are interested. At the end of the growing season (yes, some of us Northerners have a limited season), I usually have alot of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, onions, and just cut everything up and simmer on stovetop and add Italian seasonings and hot pack that into jars and named it "Italian tomatoes" Really good on pasta, like spaghetti sauce, with a little kick, and smothered on swiss steak it is very good also. I also dry alot of tomatoes at the end of the season, and they are just put into jars and stored dry on top of the cupboards. They are good cut up into little pieces with basil and sea salt and tosses with freshly cooked pasta. As you can tell, this is not a low-carb diet. Dried tomatoes are also good on homemade pizza with fresh mozarella cheese and seasonings! If you want the recipe for salsa, let me know and I'll have to dig it out at home (I'm at work now). One of the funnest parts of gardening is in the planning and information stage! stuck...

 

[Amy Jo]

We make spaghetti sauce every year! We’d spend all morning smashing them through the juicer. My father would crank then I would smash, then he would smash and I would crank…then if I had friends over, they would smash and crank also. Then the juice would sit in big kettles boiling away all day. I don’t really have information beyond that because as far as I know, the recipe is in my mother’s head. I was to tired by then to even care but we did have the best sauce. I do know we use a combination of paste tomatoes and traditional kinds like Brandywine and Bigboy.

Yeah, I have a lot of recipes in my head too... I tried to write down a recipe for stuffing, but with all the... little more of this, it needs a little more salt... ok, that tastes good... it was a mess! :haha:

You and your dad are such wonderful people!!! Your mom is very lucky!

 

[Amy Jo]

Dried tomatoes are also good on homemade pizza with fresh mozarella cheese and seasonings! If you want the recipe for salsa, let me know and I'll have to dig it out at home (I'm at work now). One of the funnest parts of gardening is in the planning and information stage! stuck...

Ok, I'm hungry now! I love carbs... and so do my thighs and hips... which is why they hold onto them so lovingly! Once we move out of this crowded neighborhood I can't wait to be outside doing something once again! I would love your recipe... whenever you get a chance to come across it.

I went to the store today and bought some seeds... I'm going to do some container gardening this year... I just can't wait.