My other hobby.... gardening

[PaulnGina]

Once the pressure gets up to 10 psi, you adjust the heat to hold it there for 40 minutes.

I've heard a lot of people express fear of pressure canners, but I think it's just a lack of knowledge of how to properly use one. The pressure doesn't rise or fall very quickly, but you DO need to commit yourself to paying attention to it.

After the 40 minutes, I'll remove it from the heat and let the pressure drop down to nothing on its own. Then you remove the lid and put the jars on a towel and listen for the kids to snap as they cool off and seal. Then, ready to do the next load.


PaulnGina
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F250 7.3L PowerStroke

Blessed and highly favored

[Hittenstiehl]

Oh yes the popping lids, I remember that, the sign of a good seal. And I remember the occasional ones that didn't seal, months later in the celler, yucky.

[PaulnGina]

Ain't it purty??


PaulnGina
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F250 7.3L PowerStroke

Blessed and highly favored

[rmkrum]

I'm thinking fried potatoes, and sauerbraten. Or just about anything that goes good with red cabbage!

Yum!


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[PaulnGina]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

I'm thinking fried potatoes, and sauerbraten. Or just about anything that goes good with red cabbage!

Yum!


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

Yes, sounds wonderful! I have a bunch of recently-dug red-skinned taters, too!


PaulnGina
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F250 7.3L PowerStroke

Blessed and highly favored

[Gearheart]

Roast duck or goose would go good with that red cabbage. I'm drooling on the key board.

[rmkrum]

Cottage fries!


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[Burnside Bob]

Nice cabbages!! Never seem to pull that off--the dreaded cabbage worms beat us to the harvest.

But, our garlic is done. Currently experimenting with which of 3 varieties makes the best garlic cheese toast. May take a lot of experimentation to figure that out.

First peaches today. Got the QC gal on em right away:



Four varieties of potatos should be done soon--plants just flowering now:



First color hint on sunflowers:



Strange gardening season here in Western Oregon. Warm to hot March into June. Mid June to now cool with occasional rain--hot weather vegies don't like it--melons, tomatos, peppers. Normally sugar pod peas and lettuce are done for, but this year still nice and productive.

Happy gardening you all!!

[PaulnGina]

Burnside, your pictures look great!

Our relatively cool, wet spring and early summer (not "normal") is what contributed our good cabbage harvest.

"Normal" years, which means a short spring that turns into a hot, dry, early summer, can produce a nice cabbage crop but by the time you harvest, the plants are getting really stressed by the heat.

On the opposite end of the spectrum this year, the early lack of heat and excessive moisture has contribute to a less than stellar tomato crop.... at least in my garden.

Oh well..... that's gardening, isn't it??

[Hittenstiehl]

Burnside, looks fantastic, looks like the inspector is pleased also.

[duncans]

My mom used to tell me about that time she blew up her pressure cooker, sending applesauce bits all over the kitchen and what a mess to clean up. A bit of apple peel blocked the pressure release valve. She had burn marks on her arm. That story has always prevented me from pressure cooking, despite mom's fantastic roasts!
Your photos make me reconsider. I put up a lot in jars, but always waterbath, which can take so much time that food quality suffers. Waterbath canning also is pretty limiting as to what you can can. Maybe I will get courageous and purchase another pressure cooker, having given my first one, like yours, to Good Will, unused.

Susan

[Burnside Bob]

According to our local press, interest in gardening has exploded. Oregon State University Extension offers an on-line vegetable gardening course, which in recent years drew 20 to 30 participants. This year 29,000!

So we were wondering if Airstreamers are gardening this year. Got anything growing?


Photo 1--We start seeds indoors in the plastic trays chopped lettuce comes in. If we direct seed the slugs and flea beetles eat the seedlings.
Photo 2--put seedling trays outdoors for a week of tough love to get them used to outside conditions.
Photo 3--plant seedlings to ground just before a rain.

Burnside

[Hittenstiehl]

BB that looks fantastic!

Food security and self reliance have both peaked during this.

We've got room to garden but non conducive weather (Phx). Need to educate myself to winter gardening.

Been juicing from the neighbors citrus trees.

[Bubba L]

BB, you’re barking up my tree. I’ve been a gardening enthusiast for decades. Here in central Texas, I start my heirloom tomato seeds indoors in January. Try and plant in our garden raised beds by latter March. The only thing we’re getting out of the garden now is Pontiac taters, cilantro and onions. Just something I’ve always enjoyed.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, my wife has done quite well with her garden. But last year she broke her back so no garden. This year she has it started again.

[Gearheart]

We got 5 varieties of hot peppers going including a variety we picked up in NM on our travels last year. Various tomatoes as well as lettuce. We will not be travelling this summer so might as well tend the small garden.

[Belbein]

Those gardens look great. For those of y'all (us, I mean) who don't have a back 40 to garden, I'd like to mention that there's a way to do small gardens that produce just enough for a couple to eat. It's called the Square Foot Gardening Method. We have four raised garden boxes in our front yard that provide 20 square feet of garden: a regular flow of veggies that enlivens our meals. (I was d**ned if I was going to get down on my knees for plant or harvest, so they're about 2 1/2 feet off the ground.) There's a book, but also websites on the SF method. And if anyone wants a sketch of how I built the raised garden boxes, I'm glad to share.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Some pictures of my wife's back yard garden.

For some unknown reason I can't post my pictures correctly.

[Burnside Bob]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

Here in central Texas, I start my heirloom tomato seeds indoors in January. Try and plant in our garden raised beds by latter March. The only thing we’re getting out of the garden now is Pontiac taters, cilantro and onions. Just something I’ve always enjoyed.

I'm envious! The "last frost date" hereabouts is 15 May so we can't plant that early. Started tomatoes and peppers 8 April. These will get planted out after 15 May--but we are so cool the plants don't do much until mid June.

When we returned from New Mexico last October we planted a small garden with spinach, lettuce, cilantro, arugula, radish. We never had any hard frosts so that little garden has kept us in salad greens January on. Lettuces would freeze out in a normal winter.


Gearheart, what pepper varieties are you growing? Lately my "pepperhead" tendencies have become manifest.

Burnside

Pepper, tomato, eggplant starts. Tray of cardboard tubes at right edge of photo is Basil--hasn't germed yet.

[Burnside Bob]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Some pictures of my wife's back yard garden.

Hi Robert:

Your wife's garden looks awesome. Not a weed in sight!! My wife wants to know if those photos are from this year.

A Holy Grail for her is ripe tomatoes on the vine by July 4--an unachieveable goal in the Willamette Valley unless you start the plants super early and baby them--or have a greenhouse--which is cheating in my book but not hers.

"Burnside, why isn't the greenhouse built yet?"

Burnside

PS Reloaded our hummingbird feeders with high-test and the little guys have been having a field day.