If your vegetable garden is close to your house and easy to get to, it’s a lot easier to run out and pick some herbs or harvest some fresh vegetables for the dinner table.
You’ll also be more likely to get out there to take care of your plants on a regular schedule. You’ll be more likely to weed, water and maintain your plants if you can get to them easily.
You might even find yourself out there several times a day, doing a bit each time.
Creating firm walking paths around your garden, with easy access to everything you’ve planted, will also make it easier to get out there whenever the mood strikes.
There’s nothing worse than having to prepare yourself for a muddy trek through the garden if you just want to grab a few vegetables for supper.
Unless your garden’s huge and you’ve got a heck of a lot more time than most people, you probably can’t grow half the stuff you’d like to.
That’s why good planning is an essential part of vegetable gardening. It helps you to decide how much space and time you can give to your garden as well as what kinds of vegetables you really want to grow (and eat – there’s nothing worse than having way more than you can possibly use).
Whether you’re starting from scratch or working with an existing garden, spend some time with a pencil and paper before you pick up a shovel or order your seeds.
Draw out a rough garden plan to see what vegetables you’re going to plant this year, and where they’re going to go in your garden.
Over the next few days, I’ll be writing about some of the things that you should consider when planting your garden, such as convenience, size, ground preparation and the climate, as well as how to choose what vegetables to plant.
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Cultivating your own fruits and vegetables can be a challenging yet rewarding experience. Seeing products of your hard work will continue to draw you toward gardening. As a gardener, you know that different seasons offer ideal climates for different types of produce. How can you preserve the fruits and vegetables you grow so that you can enjoy the “fruits of your labor†throughout the year? There are two main aspects of preserving your fruits and vegetables: canning and freezing. The following methods that will preserve your crops throughout the year:
• Canning. Canning is a method that heats the food to a temperature that kills the decaying action of enzymes, bacteria and other microorganisms that may have spoiled your food. There are a few different types of canning.
o Boiling Water Bath Canning is recommended for processing food with high acid content such as tomatoes, pickles and jams. A boiling water bath canner reaches 212 degrees F, killing bacteria that would spoil your food. The processing time can be anywhere from 5 to 85 minutes. You can find charts that will educate you on the appropriate bath time for different types of food and container sizes. Again, there are sources available that will give you step-by-step instructions to this canning process.
o Pressure Canning is recommended for low acid vegetables, meats, mushrooms and some soups. This process requires you to put your jars in a pressure cooker for a predetermined amount of time that will kill the bacteria that causes food decay. The pressure cooker will heat the food between 240 degrees F and 250 degrees F. This process can take anywhere from 20 to 100 minutes and obviously requires a pressure cooker.
• Freezing. Most foods can be frozen. Keeping your food at 0 degrees F will inactivate the growth of microbes that cause spoilage in food. It does not kill these bacteria, instead causing them to lye dormant unable to multiply which would cause the growth of mold and other food borne bacteria. Not all foods will retain its tasting quality after a freeze. Lettuce, cream sauces and mayonnaise do not freeze well. Some foods, like spinach, require you to blanch the food before you can freeze it. Blanching is when you boil the product and then cool it down and drain the water out. If you did not blanch spinach and some other vegetable, they would not freeze well. Remember that if you freeze an item for extended periods of time, the food will loose its original nutrient qualities.
• Pie Fillings. If you have produced ample fruit, creating pie fillings and freezing that may be an avenue you choose to go down. Pie fillings will use large amounts of fruit and can be frozen for up to a year.
To effectively can and freeze your foods, use resources available in books and on the web to help you preserve your food in the most appropriate and safest manner. It is important to remember that if you are canning at high altitudes, special instructions may apply to keep your product fresh.
1. Veggiegardeningtips.com. This website boasts “gardening tips, organic techniques and ornamental plants for growing incredible vegetable, fruit and herb gardens.†This easy to access site contains ample gardening advice in an easy-to-read manner. There is great commentary from other gardeners and a plethora of advice ranging from basic gardening techniques to trapping a ground hog that is destroying you harvest. This website also has several products available to aid you in your gardening quest.
2. Growingtaste.com. This site is easy to follow because of its outline format. You can easily find the subjects that will most likely apply to you. There are also several links that may assist you in finding the specific material that you need. Links to cooking websites help you to best use your bounteous crop. An ample bookshop contains any gardening information that you could think of.
3. davesgarden.com. “Gardening at Dave’s Garden†is the title of this webpage. Although this website contains information about all types of gardening, it is still a valuable resource. This site has reader forums and encourages ideas and tips from its readers. They provide a “Garden Watchdog†element that reviews mail-order garden companies and has readers rank the quality. This website also offers a free membership that will allow you to publish you idea on gardening.
4. kitchengardeners.org. Another valuable website! The focus of this website is to create self-reliance. To promote providing for your own consumption. This website contains lists of helps from polling beans to creating tomato cages to decreasing your carbon imprint. As you search this site you will see a mailing list that you can subscribe to that will provide you with more information. There is also a section that allows you to post pictures of your harvest and “show off†your gardening skills.
5. backyardgardener.com/veg/. The Backyard Gardener is an online store that offers the reader product and endless information. This website is organized into lists that make information easy to find. They have seed purchase available along with over 35,000 gardening products. This site isn’t only product. They have a plant encyclopedia and how- to instruction. They also have several links to hone down your search to your specific need.
If you are a vegetable gardener or thinking of becoming one, there is ample supply of advice and instruction is available on the internet. You will find a gardening community eager to guide you in your endeavors.
There are several recipes and strategies for making this autumn favorite. Here are a couple of recipes that may tickle your taste buds.
1. The first recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds came from www.FabulousFoods.com from a contributor by the name of Cheri.
• 1 ½ cups pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp. melted butter or oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)
• Salt to taste
Options To Taste:
• Garlic powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Seasoning salt
• Cajun seasoning blend
Preheat oven to 300° F.
While it’s O.K. to leave some strings and pulp on your seeds (it adds flavor), clean off any major chunks. Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasoning of your choice. Spread the pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
2. The following recipe was found at www.make-stuff.com and has some variation from the first recipe.
• Wash the seeds and pat them dry.
• Soak for about an hour in soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce (you might want to try a batch of each just to see which you like better).
• Sprinkle w/ garlic powder if desired
• roast on cookie sheet @ low heat 225-250°. After 1/2 hr, turn the seeds over and continue roasting for another 1/2 – 1 hr. Test by biting into one – they’re done when they’re crunchy.
Some variations, soak in butter instead of the soy or wooster sauce. Sprinkle with a few Italian spices – oregano for instance. Experiment until you find a flavor you like!
The key to preparing wonderful roasted pumpkin seeds is to clean them and add what ever kinds of spices that you enjoy. Be inventive and include your children. They love to get their hands gooey from the innards of a pumpkin. Have them help clean the seeds and dry them in preparation to cook them. They may have other interesting ideas for your pumpkin seeds. The important part is to have fun and enjoy this traditional fall snack.
