when are you sowing your garden this year?

[jhood001]

Probably a form of blight. Get some copper fungicide.

Also make sure your pots are draining well.

[Brian]

Probably a form of blight. Get some copper fungicide.

Also make sure your pots are draining well.

Thx picked up some today and I'll give it a try. I'm pretty sure my drainage is good. There's a bunch of broken pottery in the bottom, and when I water, it doesn't take long before some of the water comes streaming out into the saucer.
Appreciate the tip.

[hollohas]

Still going strong. This was all picked just now.

[hunterhawk]

Solid! Nice looking produce!

[Brian]

Picked the first small pile of 6-8 tomatoes from my late planted plants... going to have a BLT for lunch tomorrow...
The big tomato pot blew over a couple days ago and bent one of the branches, which was a bummer. That plastic trellis stuff it came with didn't hold up to any bit of wind, so I'm going to have to reinforce that plant well since it's still growing "up". I did "splint" the branch using a small wood BBQ skewer and some twist-ties, and surprisingly it looks like it's doing great now. I didn't expect it would "heal" that well so fast.

Anybody know if 12mo+ seed potatoes will be any good if planted next year? I still have some in the box they came in, chitted out but otherwise they seem ok. Maybe worth the experiment.

[Brian]

How well do tomatoes freeze?

I have too many to use day-to-day but would like to save what I have now to combine with the next few weeks or so - make a huge pot of tomato soup of some sort.

I don't want to mess with canning, and am thinking about simply chopping them up, partially freezing them, and then vac-sealing in the foodsaver. Packs would go into deep freeze then until I'm ready to make some soup.

Anything wrong with that approach? I've never frozen tomatoes before, so I wasn't sure...

[newracer]

We have always blanched them in boiling water to remove the skins before freezing. They will be mushy when defrosted but are great for sauces and soups.

[Hummer]

How well do tomatoes freeze?

I have too many to use day-to-day but would like to save what I have now to combine with the next few weeks or so - make a huge pot of tomato soup of some sort.

I don't want to mess with canning, and am thinking about simply chopping them up, partially freezing them, and then vac-sealing in the foodsaver. Packs would go into deep freeze then until I'm ready to make some soup.

Anything wrong with that approach? I've never frozen tomatoes before, so I wasn't sure...

We have always blanched them in boiling water to remove the skins before freezing. They will be mushy when defrosted but are great for sauces and soups.

Yes, blanching and freezing tomatoes works great for stir fry dishes, too. We've been putting up garden tomatoes and roasting chilies big time for the past three weeks. Also have been canning catsup and roasted pepper sauce. With the warm weather the tomatoes and peppers are still producing. For cherry tomatoes and sweet-100's, I leave the skin on, slice them in half and freeze them on cookie sheets, then bag them for use later.

I'm picking apples and grapes now, too. (Yesterday, two truck loads of apples went to feed orphaned bear cubs at a rehab facility near Rifle). Making lots of stuff with apples including wines. The Riesling and Gewurztraminer grapes have gone to make jelly, and for wines that are almost finished fermenting.... I'm racking from fermenter barrels into carboys today. The reds get picked Wednesday. And, the last of the peaches just went to making a gallon jug of peach cordial.

Mrs. Hummer has been making hearty soups and freezing in vacuum bags for me to take hunting. Just heat and eat, very easy, and great meals. It's harvest time and we're like the busy beavers prepping for winter.



In the photo, I'm pressing 212 lbs. of Gewurztraminer grapes which yielded 16 gal. of juice using an 80 liter Zambelli hydro press. Also have 115 gal. of Riesling. Both are fermenting with three different yeasts to produce wines of different characters.

[Brian]

Yes, blanching and freezing tomatoes works great for stir fry dishes, too. We've been putting up garden tomatoes and roasting chilies big time for the past three weeks. Also have been canning catsup and roasted pepper sauce. With the warm weather the tomatoes and peppers are still producing. For cherry tomatoes and sweet-100's, I leave the skin on, slice them in half and freeze them on cookie sheets, then bag them for use later.

I'm picking apples and grapes now, too. (Yesterday, two truck loads of apples went to feed orphaned bear cubs at a rehab facility near Rifle). Making lots of stuff with apples including wines. The Riesling and Gewurztraminer grapes have gone to make jelly, and for wines that are almost finished fermenting.... I'm racking from fermenter barrels into carboys today. The reds get picked Wednesday. And, the last of the peaches just went to making a gallon jug of peach cordial.

Mrs. Hummer has been making hearty soups and freezing in vacuum bags for me to take hunting. Just heat and eat, very easy, and great meals. It's harvest time and we're like the busy beavers prepping for winter.



In the photo, I'm pressing 212 lbs. of Gewurztraminer grapes which yielded 16 gal. of juice using an 80 liter Zambelli hydro press. Also have 115 gal. of Riesling. Both are fermenting with three different yeasts to produce wines of different characters.

Wow, I'm jealous. Definitely going to have to try to find a way to stop by on the way to Moab next Easter.
There's no way I'd be able to grow my own grapes over here, but I'd love to be making some hard cider out of homemade apples. Had a buddy who said he thought he knew someone who'd let us come pick and press a ton, but I guess it didn't work out, since I never heard back.

[Hummer]

Wow, I'm jealous. Definitely going to have to try to find a way to stop by on the way to Moab next Easter.
There's no way I'd be able to grow my own grapes over here, but I'd love to be making some hard cider out of homemade apples. Had a buddy who said he thought he knew someone who'd let us come pick and press a ton, but I guess it didn't work out, since I never heard back.

That would be great, and you might get lucky because I try to do bottling in April and May. There is a cider plant nearby where I can buy unpasteurized apple juice by the barrel, and it's easier than using my own apple mill and press. A few years ago I made apple wines from a 55 gal. barrel of juice. This evening we opened one of the last bottles of 2009 Cranberry Apple wine. Still very good....

I'm not growing wine grapes now but I source them from several western Colorado vineyards, some free for the picking, some in trade for the wine I make, and some I buy. I'll get about 1000 lbs. of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc this week. 2015 should be a great year for wine in CO, maybe as good as 2012.