I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this in the comments, but if you cook with eggs save those eggshells. The shells can be put in a 225 degree oven for an hour and then let them cool and blend them up in a glass blender (plastic blenders will be scarred by the sharp egg shells, I know too well). Instant calcium for your plants and its basically free fertilizer.
That is a great tip! We do this and also do the same with coffee grounds and banana peels. The cost of fertilizer is so expensive and this definitely helps to decrease $$ going out. Thank you for watching!
You can freeze roasted eggplant and make baba ganoush during the winter. I tried it last year and it worked great! All you need is some fresh parsley and you have a perfect taste of summer.
I love this video!! It really helps to have a breakdown by plant of what you’re planting along with cooking/ processing info. Thank you you’re doing amazing work!!
That is so exciting. Just know, I started in 2020, never having gardened before. You can definitely be successful. You’ll have some failures but I promise that the success will outweigh them:)
I grow more peppers than I can use in the summer for the same reason as you. I stuff the peppers and freeze them also. It is delicious. Also growing eggplants this year for the first time. I will take you suggestions on how to use them. Thank you.
Very informative! I’m just down the road from you, so our growing are very similar. Thank you for sharing the names of the varieties you’re planting. Good to know what your strong performers are!
Really like you and your channel. As I watched this video I was compelled to tell you about one pepper I planted last year and will always plant. It’s called Paprik pepper. Once it’s ready to be harvested I took out the seeds and dehydrated it, suppose you could also freeze dry it. Then ground it finely and you have the absolute BEST tasting paprika ever, holy cow so flavorful!!! I use it in recipes and also sprinkle it on roasted potatoes so so delicious. Happy gardening.
I love that! Thank you so much for sharing! I think I still have time to get that ordered and plant it in my garden this year!!!!! I’m so glad you are enjoying the channel:)
Thanks for sharing! Have you tried oxheart tomatoes for sauces and salsas? We like the orange strawberry and Hungarian heart tomatoes. We liked the giant paste from Botanical Interests. Our favorite slicer is the Thornburn's Terra-Cotta as of last year - even over the Cherokee Purple which was our favorite for years before. In 2023, we grew 152 tomato plants of 60+ varieties. We have 82 qts preserved. This year only fresh eating favorite varieties; Terra-Cotta, Cherokee Carbon, Black Beauty, Roma VF, Sungold, and a new to us Evil Olive cherry. Moving tomatoes aside for peppers 40+ varieties sweet and hot. Who knows how many pepper plants we'll end up with. Hopefully enough to make / preserve as sauces, freeze dried, fermented and powder while weeding out those we do not care for. I am on a mission to determine what we like and stick to growing only those plants / fruits. Even years peppers, peas, snap beans, lima beans, summer squash, brassicas. Odd years; tomatoes, dry beans, winter squash and cucumbers. We grow some leafy greens, alliums, melons and herbs each year. Perennials; asparagus, strawberries, roses (hips), flowers. We're trying a patch of corn this year. If it works well, we may make room for corn in rotation. If not, we'll continue to buy from local farms.
The 2 year planting sounds like a great strategy. I have found that finding what you like and sticking to that like you said really helps to streamline things and increases my productivity:) Thank you for sharing all that you are planting. I love to hear this info!
I just found your channel a couple weeks ago, and it immediately made my top fave 5 channels list! Love what you're doing and sharing here. ❤100 - 200 tomato plants, oh my! I'm so looking forward to achieving my dream to purchase a homestead property and get into prepping, canning, and all the other self-sufficient things that are the blessings of owning a homestead. Thanks for all of the tips and motivation!
Awesome! Thank you! I’m so glad you found the info helpful. My advice is to start preserving food now to learn. The local stores, restaurant supply businesses and farmers markets are good places to find large quantities of food at low costs:) Always ask for a discount if you’re buying in bulk! You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll save:)
Just a thought... you're a good teacher. Have you thought about expanding your videos to show how you process and store all your harvest. I could really use the instructions as a beginner from someone with experience. Visually watching someone process food is what I need, whether it be canning, jarring, dehydrating or freezing. Just saying... 😘
Some of my previous videos are on food preservation. And I do have a few that I’ve filmed but haven’t published just yet. Hoping to do more this year. I basically try to film exactly what I’m doing during this season whether it’s gardening, harvesting or preserving, so be looking for those videos through the summer!
You should probably do s soil test first to see your calcium levels, most soils have enough calcium, the blossom end rot deficiency typically in the san marzano's usually is caused by the plant not being able to uptake the calcium from the soil, so it doesn't matter adding more calcium if your soil is already high in calcium. The plants inability to uptake the calcium is commonly found in soils that have had synthetic fertilizer use over years as the salts left in the soil from those fertilizers bond to the calcium ions in the soil making them unavailable for the plants to bring up.
Thank you for that info. I find it super helpful to know that about synthetic fertilizer. I have used them here and there in the past but am hoping to increase my knowledge and increase my use of organic fertilizers and also how to build my soil through cover crops.
The dry canned potatoes are one of my favorite preserved foods. You seriously cannot tell that the potatoes were not fresh. We accidentally stumbled upon the recipe when I had a bunch of potatoes going soft on me and I needed to do something with them. I do have a few canning videos coming up!
Thanks. I use the sweet potatoes in substitutions or jam and pineapple. My granddaughter is vegan. She said the sweet potatoes are like jam. Jamón con piña.
LOVE this video! So informative! I love how you share which type, how you preserve and what you do with them! Im going to have to try some of those next year! I think im going to run out of garden space this year.....🤣
So glad you found the video helpful. I have found that by figuring out what we eat most of and what we like has helped me to narrow down my plantings and save me space. I used to plant EVERYTHING. That is a lot of work!
Thanks for all this information! I am very interested in flash freezing this year since my garden has expanded since last year. I also have to succession sow squash and zucchini plants because of the borers.
IMO the challenge that you will have in the future is your use of so many F1/hybrid seeds. I totally understand the performance factor, however should you not be able to get seeds in the future, not having practiced how to save the open pollinated seeds and not having learned how to manage those plants in your environment may be putting at risk your ability to grow food in the future. I love your energy and passion! Best wishes!
I agree with you about the hybrid seeds. I’ve mainly used heirloom or OP until this year. My thinking is that I really want to get a huge harvest this year ( lots of uncertainty in the world) and get that all stored away. The majority of my plants are heirloom and I am trying to focus on seed saving from a few of those varieties. ( I try to focus on just a few so that I can really learn how to seed save correctly)
Carol Depp, in her vegetable breeding book, has said that some " hybrids" are stable and when you grow the seeds you get the same as the parent plant. In a true F1 hybrid you should expect a variation in the saved seeds. It might be worth saving some and planting several to see if it really is an F1 or if it has been stabilized.
Have you tried planting radishes between your squash plants. They help with deterring squash vine bores here. They last under the squash leaf shade. Maybe this interplanting can help.
40 minutes processing time for quarts. They stay on your shelf 2 years before they start to loose nutritional quality, but they’ll still be good as long as the seal stays intact
Great job sharing all your planting this year. I really appreciate that you included information about the different varieties and how you use them.
So glad it was helpful. I struggled finding a video on this topic when I was starting out.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this in the comments, but if you cook with eggs save those eggshells. The shells can be put in a 225 degree oven for an hour and then let them cool and blend them up in a glass blender (plastic blenders will be scarred by the sharp egg shells, I know too well). Instant calcium for your plants and its basically free fertilizer.
That is a great tip! We do this and also do the same with coffee grounds and banana peels. The cost of fertilizer is so expensive and this definitely helps to decrease $$ going out. Thank you for watching!
Wow! I'm impressed! You've got great organization in the garden!
I'll definitely be following along. 😊
Thanks so much! 😊
You can freeze roasted eggplant and make baba ganoush during the winter. I tried it last year and it worked great! All you need is some fresh parsley and you have a perfect taste of summer.
That is amazing. Do you have to blanch it first?
This is actually the second time I've watched this episode... gave me a lot of 'food for thought' ha ha. ;)
So glad it was helpful:)
I love this video!! It really helps to have a breakdown by plant of what you’re planting along with cooking/ processing info. Thank you you’re doing amazing work!!
You are so welcome! It is great to hear that it was helpful!
Thank you for this video,
I find your info very helpful.
I’m still very new to gardening but I’m hoping to be really successful with it.
That is so exciting. Just know, I started in 2020, never having gardened before. You can definitely be successful. You’ll have some failures but I promise that the success will outweigh them:)
I grow more peppers than I can use in the summer for the same reason as you. I stuff the peppers and freeze them also. It is delicious. Also growing eggplants this year for the first time. I will take you suggestions on how to use them. Thank you.
I always say that if I grow too much, I can help out family and friends with my excess!
Very informative! I’m just down the road from you, so our growing are very similar. Thank you for sharing the names of the varieties you’re planting. Good to know what your strong performers are!
You are so welcome!
I grow the butternut and Seminole pumpkins they love the Heat
I need to try Seminole pumpkins!
Really like you and your channel. As I watched this video I was compelled to tell you about one pepper I planted last year and will always plant. It’s called Paprik pepper. Once it’s ready to be harvested I took out the seeds and dehydrated it, suppose you could also freeze dry it. Then ground it finely and you have the absolute BEST tasting paprika ever, holy cow so flavorful!!! I use it in recipes and also sprinkle it on roasted potatoes so so delicious. Happy gardening.
I love that! Thank you so much for sharing! I think I still have time to get that ordered and plant it in my garden this year!!!!! I’m so glad you are enjoying the channel:)
Great selection! Thank you for the suggestion for recipes, too .
Can't wait to see your garden on full bloom 😊
You’re welcome! I can’t wait to see it either:)
Thanks for sharing! Have you tried oxheart tomatoes for sauces and salsas? We like the orange strawberry and Hungarian heart tomatoes. We liked the giant paste from Botanical Interests. Our favorite slicer is the Thornburn's Terra-Cotta as of last year - even over the Cherokee Purple which was our favorite for years before. In 2023, we grew 152 tomato plants of 60+ varieties. We have 82 qts preserved. This year only fresh eating favorite varieties; Terra-Cotta, Cherokee Carbon, Black Beauty, Roma VF, Sungold, and a new to us Evil Olive cherry. Moving tomatoes aside for peppers 40+ varieties sweet and hot. Who knows how many pepper plants we'll end up with. Hopefully enough to make / preserve as sauces, freeze dried, fermented and powder while weeding out those we do not care for. I am on a mission to determine what we like and stick to growing only those plants / fruits. Even years peppers, peas, snap beans, lima beans, summer squash, brassicas. Odd years; tomatoes, dry beans, winter squash and cucumbers. We grow some leafy greens, alliums, melons and herbs each year. Perennials; asparagus, strawberries, roses (hips), flowers. We're trying a patch of corn this year. If it works well, we may make room for corn in rotation. If not, we'll continue to buy from local farms.
The 2 year planting sounds like a great strategy. I have found that finding what you like and sticking to that like you said really helps to streamline things and increases my productivity:) Thank you for sharing all that you are planting. I love to hear this info!
I just found your channel a couple weeks ago, and it immediately made my top fave 5 channels list! Love what you're doing and sharing here. ❤100 - 200 tomato plants, oh my! I'm so looking forward to achieving my dream to purchase a homestead property and get into prepping, canning, and all the other self-sufficient things that are the blessings of owning a homestead. Thanks for all of the tips and motivation!
Awesome! Thank you! I’m so glad you found the info helpful. My advice is to start preserving food now to learn. The local stores, restaurant supply businesses and farmers markets are good places to find large quantities of food at low costs:) Always ask for a discount if you’re buying in bulk! You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll save:)
I'm trying Mary's Granddaughter asparagus this year. It's supposed to be very good for hot and humid areas.
That is great to know about that variety. We definitely meet the criteria for hot and humid here in SC
Great info!
Glad it was helpful!
I highly recommend Jet Setters. No core in them and sweet taste
That is great to know. Thank you for sharing!
Just a thought... you're a good teacher. Have you thought about expanding your videos to show how you process and store all your harvest. I could really use the instructions as a beginner from someone with experience. Visually watching someone process food is what I need, whether it be canning, jarring, dehydrating or freezing. Just saying... 😘
Some of my previous videos are on food preservation. And I do have a few that I’ve filmed but haven’t published just yet. Hoping to do more this year. I basically try to film exactly what I’m doing during this season whether it’s gardening, harvesting or preserving, so be looking for those videos through the summer!
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Fantastic breakdown of what you need to eat for the year.
Glad it was helpful! I didn’t share everything. I need to do one on fruits as well
Epsom salts is great for blossom end rot
I water it in for about 2-3 weeks while the flowers are setting
Thank you for that info! I add Epsom Salt at the time of planting but wasn’t aware it helped with blossom end rot:)
Thank you! This is the kind of detail I’ve been looking for, love your videos.
I'm so glad! I always wanted someone to do a video like this when I was starting out!
You should probably do s soil test first to see your calcium levels, most soils have enough calcium, the blossom end rot deficiency typically in the san marzano's usually is caused by the plant not being able to uptake the calcium from the soil, so it doesn't matter adding more calcium if your soil is already high in calcium.
The plants inability to uptake the calcium is commonly found in soils that have had synthetic fertilizer use over years as the salts left in the soil from those fertilizers bond to the calcium ions in the soil making them unavailable for the plants to bring up.
best to alter the pH toward more acidity to help with calcium uptake
Thank you for that info. I find it super helpful to know that about synthetic fertilizer. I have used them here and there in the past but am hoping to increase my knowledge and increase my use of organic fertilizers and also how to build my soil through cover crops.
Great video. I took a lot from the information you gave.
Glad it was helpful!
I loved this video!! I’ve never done canning and would love to see videos about that. The dry canning potatoes sounds very good
The dry canned potatoes are one of my favorite preserved foods. You seriously cannot tell that the potatoes were not fresh. We accidentally stumbled upon the recipe when I had a bunch of potatoes going soft on me and I needed to do something with them. I do have a few canning videos coming up!
New to your channel- love it! You mentioned a Lime Salsa from the new Ball Canning book; however, I’ve been thru the book and do not see it! Help!
I am so sorry! It is actually in a book called fool proof preserving. I apologize.
Thanks.
I use the sweet potatoes in substitutions or jam and pineapple. My granddaughter is vegan. She said the sweet potatoes are like jam.
Jamón con piña.
Oh wow! I never would e thought to do that:) Thank you for sharing that!
LOVE this video! So informative! I love how you share which type, how you preserve and what you do with them! Im going to have to try some of those next year! I think im going to run out of garden space this year.....🤣
So glad you found the video helpful. I have found that by figuring out what we eat most of and what we like has helped me to narrow down my plantings and save me space. I used to plant EVERYTHING. That is a lot of work!
I just found you and have watched several videos...I love your channel!!
Yay! Thank you! That is wonderful to hear
Thanks for all this information! I am very interested in flash freezing this year since my garden has expanded since last year. I also have to succession sow squash and zucchini plants because of the borers.
Glad it was helpful! I never used my freezer to its full potential until this previous year. I learn more and more every year!
IMO the challenge that you will have in the future is your use of so many F1/hybrid seeds. I totally understand the performance factor, however should you not be able to get seeds in the future, not having practiced how to save the open pollinated seeds and not having learned how to manage those plants in your environment may be putting at risk your ability to grow food in the future. I love your energy and passion! Best wishes!
I agree with you about the hybrid seeds. I’ve mainly used heirloom or OP until this year. My thinking is that I really want to get a huge harvest this year ( lots of uncertainty in the world) and get that all stored away. The majority of my plants are heirloom and I am trying to focus on seed saving from a few of those varieties. ( I try to focus on just a few so that I can really learn how to seed save correctly)
Carol Depp, in her vegetable breeding book, has said that some " hybrids" are stable and when you grow the seeds you get the same as the parent plant. In a true F1 hybrid you should expect a variation in the saved seeds.
It might be worth saving some and planting several to see if it really is an F1 or if it has been stabilized.
Great video thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Courtney awesome
Thank you!
Have you tried planting radishes between your squash plants. They help with deterring squash vine bores here. They last under the squash leaf shade. Maybe this interplanting can help.
I haven’t tried that but I will this year! Awesome advice:) Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for great video. ❤ Sweden
Thanks for watching!
Please share your fruits in the next video!
You got it!
May I ask how do you do your hair? I love it so pretty and love your channel. God Bless
Thank you so much! It is called a half french twist, but I use a clip instead of bobby pins.
Interested in the dry can potatoes what do you pressure can them at and how long do they last in the shelf?
40 minutes processing time for quarts. They stay on your shelf 2 years before they start to loose nutritional quality, but they’ll still be good as long as the seal stays intact