Showing posts with label Vegetable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetable. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Harvesting and Canning 2012

We picked our corn and were blessed with 2 wheel barrel loads of corn and we have been blessed with tomatoes this year.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

How I Make and Can Corn Relish Video #32 National Can It Forward Day

This is my go to recipe for corn relish. I have been making it for years and this is my most favorite of the corn relish recipes. Corn Relish 20 ears of corn...

Monday, August 11, 2014

Canning and Sharing a Thick Salsa Recipe

I am in search of a salsa recipe that is thick. The one we used last year is good but just not very thick. I like a salsa that a chip can stand up in. Here i...

Everything you need to start canning at home and make delicious recipes for home canning:

Click here to visit At Home Canning For Beginners and Beyond.

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Ultimate Sausage,Cabbage and Vegetable Soup

2.5 lbs Sweet Italian Sausage cut into chunks
I head cabbage sliced thin, I used green cabbage
3/4 lbs carrots cut into slices
4 cups chopped potatoes
1 lb soaked navy beans
2 cups chopped celery
2 large onions chopped
5 cloves chopped garlic
1.5 cups apple juice
3 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped
4 TBS cider vinegar
3 TBS brown sugar
3 tomatoes peeled and chopped
salt and pepper to taste


I threw everything into a stock pot and covered with water.
I brought to a boil then simmered for about 15 minutes.
I ladled into my quart jars (12 jars) and processed for 90 minutes at 11 PSI.

This is good, not as odd as I thought it might be. I like it and my guests liked it.
I wish I had used more apples. If I do this again I may throw in cubes of pumpkin.

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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter - Does it work? Read my review!

topsy turvy
topsy turvy (Photo credit: looseends)
Growing tomatoes is an easy first step for first time gardeners, tomatoes are easy to grow in planters so it is almost a given that someone would come up with a "Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter", an innovation that makes growing and watering tomatoes even easier and increases yield...

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter - What is it?

I love to cook, and I've recently been experimenting with making my own homemade salsa and pasta sauces. Obviously, I've been using tons of canned tomatoes in the process. A friend at work recently brought me a few home-grown tomatoes, and I asked her how she possibly had time to grow tomatoes herself. She said she's been using a Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter. I was instantly interested in finding out more. I thought that would be a wonderful way to save money on buying tomatoes at the market, and have much better home-grown tasting tomatoes at the same time.

The Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter is a simple planter that allows you to plant tomato seedlings upside down. The roots stay in the planter and the plant hangs underneath. The sun warms the planter, which acts like a greenhouse. This makes the roots very happy. When you water, it allows the moisture and any tomato food you use to drain directly down onto the plant.

I bought this back in April, and I decided to plant cherry tomatoes in it. You can put three plants in each planter. You can even mix different tomato varieties, or even grow other vegetables or herbs. But, for my first try, I decided to stick with small tomatoes. A few weeks ago, my plants just exploded! My plants grew so fast, and then tomatoes started popping up- I have picked probably a hundred tomatoes so far and we probably have a hundred more ready to pick! The vines are almost touching the ground! I can't even describe how wonderful they taste!

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter Issues I had
I have a small garden, and I wasn't sure where I was going to hang my planter. But, I have an old clothes line in the backyard (which I've been begging my husband to get rid of for years) which ended up being absolutely perfect for hanging my Topsy Turvy from. The only con has been that the planter does get pretty heavy with 3 plants, dirt, and water, so you have to have a good sturdy hook to hang it from. My clothes line ended up needing a bit of reinforcement, but it's working just great now.
For the first several weeks, I was afraid it wouldn't grow. I followed the directions and watered my plants twice a day. I noticed about midway through the first bloom that some of my tomatoes were splitting. I read that this sometimes happens due to over-watering, so you'll need to figure out how much water works just right for your location. I adjusted how much I was watering, and the problem went away. Very easily fixed.

Benefits of the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter
Easy to set up and use Grow your own ORGANIC tomatoes Mix and match different tomatoes Works for growing fresh herbs or other vegetables Grow three plants in each planter (up to 30 lbs) Hangs on a deck or balcony for patio gardening

Eliminates:
Use of pesticides you don't get any normal garden pests Caging and staking like for normal tomato plants Digging, weeding and other hard garden work

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter - Final thoughts
For me, this is the easiest way to garden. My Topsy Turvy tomatoes are growing faster and fuller than my other potted plants. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about pesticides or weeding. Since this can work for other vegetables and herbs, I can't wait to try some more kinds of plants. I have grand plans for having a whole garden full of Topsy Turvy planters. I think they even have a strawberry planter. I'm very happy that it has turned out this well, I'll have enough cherry tomatoes for ALL my summer salads, salsa, and pasta sauces. I might even try some canning so I can have my own home grown tomatoes all year long.

Diane English
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