October tends to see the first frosts in much of the UK and as tomato plants won’t survive a frost, gardeners growing tomatoes not lucky enough to have a heated greenhouse are struggling to get those stubbornly green tomatoes to ripen. width=”524″ height=”349″ /> Figure 1 – The end of the growing tomatoes year – green unripen tomatoes If you are wondering how to grow tomatoes so that…
alt=”WP_000773″ width=”549″ height=”412″ /> After making my own pumpkin puree last year, I can’t go back to the old stuff in the cans. Last year I put the pumpkin puree into individual 1/2 cup plastic containers. This worked ok but given our full freezer it was pretty common for these hockey pucks to fall out from where they were wedge breaking on the floor (if I was luck enough…
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> One of the good things about a cold summer is still getting harvests of summer vegetables now into October. Got another cucumber for summer fall pickles and some tomatoes I have ripening inside which this weekend I used to make some low carb pizzas. One thing I was especially excited about was my jalapenos finally getting ready to be picked which I will dry and make…
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> I normally get burned out over the spring/fall and don’t do much for the fall/winter season. This year I decided I want to have a nice selection of winter veggies so I am going all out and start my winter garden. In the garden now are kale, broccoli, bok choy, carrots, spinach, romaine lettuce, arugula (one of the most profitable vegetables), bunching onions, garlic, and leeks. …
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> Previously I have just thrown my tomatoes peels into the compost after peeling them, but fortunately I got wind of an awesome technique of repurposing these into some tomato peel powder. This is great when you want to create add some tomato flavor to a omelet or casserole without having to add the additional moisture raw tomatoes would include. As an added bonus these peels have…
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> If you have a lot of tomatoes to peel, I would recommend the classic method of quickly boiling and chilling the tomatoes. Though if you have just a few tomatoes and are making something like pizza sauce or making a little salsa here is the technique for you. Step #1: Slice your tomatoes and remove seeds. Start by slicing your tomatoes down the middle and…
width=”550″ height=”413″ /> Why let your gardening season end, with a little creativity there are many vegetables that can continue growing right through winter. I find this fun as wells of a rewarding challenge bringing in some great produce from my garden all year round. Choosing your winter vegetables First we need to determine what vegetables to grow, given temperature and lack of light will be a reality we…
width=”518″ height=”346″ /> With temperatures starting to drop and heavy rains on the way it has come time to start pulling some tomatoes to ripen indoors. Tomatoes need ethylene to ripen, this occurs naturally by the tomatoes plants releasing this during the later stages of growth thus causing the tomatoes to change color. You can do this indoors with the by simply taking your tomatoes that are just beginning…
width=”489″ height=”367″ /> I made the same mistake I did with the broccoli, by purchasing more spinach (2.5 lbs) than I could eat within a week or two at most before it goes bad. To not be wasteful I decided to to freeze some of the extra. Start bringing a large pot of water to a hard rolling boil, add as much spinach as you can fit and cover…
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> I love broccoli, the problem is no one else in my family likes it with me. I am also cheap and don’t like paying $2.49 per pound at the produce section of my grocery store nor $3.69 per pound in the frozen section. I had a simple solution to this problem buy 3 pounds 3 lbs. ($1 a pound) of broccoli from Costco. Though like I…
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> This is not the first time visitors have stolen tomatoes from my garden, but this year the mystery pest has gotten every ripe tomato I have grown this year, which given out cold/wet summer has only been about a dozen ripe tomatoes. I normally go with the philosophy of this land is owned by my neighborhood animals first and I am fine sharing a tomato, some…
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> Normally blackberries are in their prime in early August, but with our cold winter they are just starting to come around now. After a little bit of hunting my partners and I found a few good stretches of bushes and had out one gallon bucket of blackberries filled in no time. In the past I have created the following with these seemingly never-ending supply of free…