Anybody Grow Anything?

Cut down the asparagus and rhubarb. Scavaged some tomatoes as well. Last of the bell peppers and tomatoes are almost done.

 

Just waiting for the leafs to fall and then winterize the pond.

 

Nice

 

My garden went to shit this year. Way too much rain, couldn't keep up with the weeds, and pretty much just threw my hands up. I still ate more tomato sandwiches than any man should though. I need to get my squash and onions out still.

Slow year for the tomato sauces though, probably only did about 10l.

 

G97, did you vacuum seal your tomatoes? Are they going to go into the freezer?

 

Yep. I already canned over 40 quarts so towards the end of the year I pick what I can, vacuum pack with food saver and freeze them. I then will use them in sauces or just add them in here and there just to add some flavor. You can blanch them by pouring hot water over them and the skin peals right off then you can basically crumble them directly into soup, chilli, gumbo etc. I'm also going to get a food mill next year and try making some sauce etc.

 

Then why do I laugh so hard when I see someone eat one?

 

Zucchini florets are good eating

 

I milled more tomatoes than I care to speak about.
Makes life so much easier.
Next year I'm planting Tomatillos. Love their taste in salsa.

 

I did Tomatillos for the first time this year, but they never got bigger than about 1/2"-3/4". Too much rain and it never really got hot enough.

 

I'm still debating it. I ordered several cans from Wally World. Next thing I know the local Food Lion has fresh ones in stock.

 

What mill did you use. I've heard it's best to get more of a commercial grade one vs. the typical ones available at Walmart etc.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G18A3W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Just to be on the safe side, I called them and they sent me 2 extra wiper blades. That's the weak link in the product, but I've yet to break one.

 

We used to use that style at home growing up, we have found for tomato and apple sauce that this style is significantly faster:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000BYDR1?psc=1

Depending on the harvest and quantity needed we will can 30-50 quarts of tomato sauce and 20-30 of apple sauce. Caning a few jars at a time wouldn't make much difference but if you are doing large batches the time savings can be significant.

 

We've got a kitchen aid mill for our mixer, but to be honest hardly ever use it. Most of the sauce we can is pureed in the pot with an immersion blender. Sometimes if I make pizza sauce I'll blanch and take the skins off, but generally always leave the seeds in.

 

I leave the seeds in also. Use the largest screen. Research shows they are good for you.

 

Resurrecting this thread - I was too busy with work last year to do much in the way of gardening, but recommitted to making way more hot sauce than any human could want this year. Growing habaneros, scotch bonnet, cayenne, Carolina reapers, and some jalapenos (for flavor). Also a couple of cucumber plants in there and one spaghetti squash for shits and giggles.

The bare spots in the lawn are where my two bitches piss, so not bothering to fix that and am going to build a few (very) large raised garden beds with my cedar deck wood (replacing the entire deck in a couple of weeks with either Trex or pressure treated, still TBD) on top of a gravel bed.

 

Weather has been suspect this year and I haven’t even planted my garden yet. Hoping to get it in tomorrow if no more rain.

 

I'm going small with mine this year in an effort to stay on top of the weeds. Only some tomatoes, peppers, and some squash and beans this year. I want to try making some fermented hot sauce this year, but I've been saying that for the last couple years so.... we'll see.