2024 garden season

[workinonit]

That's a cool potato planter. Reminds me of our old tobacco transplanters.

 

[JeepHead]

We owned a home in a subdivision last spring and only moved to our new place last August, so this is my first real garden. My equipment is a Kubota 2502 with a 5' KingKutter tiller. I tilled in roughly a 50x100' garden mixing in some straw. I got into canning last fall and bought my tomatoes from the local Amish, which was not cheap by any stretch. I paid roughly $90 for enough tomatoes to can one case of tomato juice.

So this year I have around 40 Beefsteak plants, several grape tomato plants of different verities, and some Cherokee Purples. I also did a variety of pepper plants too, from Bell, hot banana, cayenne, ghost peppers, and jalapenos. Also did zucchini, water melon, cantaloupe, carrots, cucumber, and taters. We just finished the garden up a week ago and excited to watch it grow.

 

[DJ54]

Don't know if you ever use Rotel, Tomatoes & Green Chilis but I found a copycat recipe several years ago for it and it's pretty darn close. I also use the Ms. Wages mixes, good stuff.

Canned Tomatoes & Chilies: Rotel Copycat Recipe

Servings: 6 -7 pints Calories:

Ingredients
12 cups cored, peeled, and quartered tomatoes about 32 medium round tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped chili peppers anaheim, ancho, or other mild pepper *
1 tablespoon canning salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon coriander
Citric Acid to add to jars: 1/4 teaspoon for each pint 1/2 teaspoon for quarts OR 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice for pints (2 tablespoons for quarts)
Instructions
Wash, core, peel and quarter tomatoes. Add to a large stockpot.
Wash, stem, and seed chilies (leave the seeds to increases spiciness if you'd like). Finely chop by hand or cut into large pieces and finely chop in a food processor.
Add chilies, salt, pepper, oregano, and coriander to tomatoes in stockpot, bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
While tomato mixture is simmering, prepare canner, jars and lids (see note for a tutorial for water-bath canning).
To clean, hot, pint canning jars, add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon lemon juice (if using quart jars, add 1/2 teaspoon citric acid or 2 tablespoons lemon juice).
Ladle the tomato-chili mixture into each jar, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove bubbles with a spatula, wipe rims, and attach lids.
Add jars to canner, cover, bring to a boil and process 40 minutes for pints (50 minutes for quarts), adjusting heat as needed to maintain a soft boil. When timer goes off, remove lid, turn off heat and allow jars to sit in canner 5 minutes.
Remove jars from canner to a towel-lined counter and let cool 12 to 24 hours. Remove rings for storage and check lids to be sure they've sealed (gently pull up with your fingers). Refrigerate any that didn't seal.
Notes
*Add in 1-3 jalapeños for spice, if desired, as part of the 1 cup total chilies.
To Freeze Instead of Canning:
At step 3, remove from heat and let cool a bit before transferring to freezer-safe containers (if using plastic, cool completely before transferring).
Label and date containers and freeze for up to a year.
Note: if freezing, you could leave out the citric acid if you want, but since it is an ingredient in the commercial Rotel, it may affect the flavor.

Nutrition
Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 7kcal | Carbohydrates: 1.6g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 82mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 1g

 

[jyoutz]

We owned a home in a subdivision last spring and only moved to our new place last August, so this is my first real garden. My equipment is a Kubota 2502 with a 5' KingKutter tiller. I tilled in roughly a 50x100' garden mixing in some straw. I got into canning last fall and bought my tomatoes from the local Amish, which was not cheap by any stretch. I paid roughly $90 for enough tomatoes to can one case of tomato juice.

So this year I have around 40 Beefsteak plants, several grape tomato plants of different verities, and some Cherokee Purples. I also did a variety of pepper plants too, from Bell, hot banana, cayenne, ghost peppers, and jalapenos. Also did zucchini, water melon, cantaloupe, carrots, cucumber, and taters. We just finished the garden up a week ago and excited to watch it grow.

If your tomatoes do well, 40 plants is one heck of a lot. Better plan on selling at the farmer’s market, because you will have way more than you can use or can. Ask me how I learned the lesson not to plant too many tomatoes. We spent every weekend at the farmers market for 2 months.

 

[JeepHead]

Don't know if you ever use Rotel, Tomatoes & Green Chilis but I found a copycat recipe several years ago for it and it's pretty darn close. I also use the Ms. Wages mixes, good stuff.

Canned Tomatoes & Chilies: Rotel Copycat Recipe

Servings: 6 -7 pints Calories:

Ingredients
12 cups cored, peeled, and quartered tomatoes about 32 medium round tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped chili peppers anaheim, ancho, or other mild pepper *
1 tablespoon canning salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon coriander
Citric Acid to add to jars: 1/4 teaspoon for each pint 1/2 teaspoon for quarts OR 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice for pints (2 tablespoons for quarts)
Instructions
Wash, core, peel and quarter tomatoes. Add to a large stockpot.
Wash, stem, and seed chilies (leave the seeds to increases spiciness if you'd like). Finely chop by hand or cut into large pieces and finely chop in a food processor.
Add chilies, salt, pepper, oregano, and coriander to tomatoes in stockpot, bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
While tomato mixture is simmering, prepare canner, jars and lids (see note for a tutorial for water-bath canning).
To clean, hot, pint canning jars, add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon lemon juice (if using quart jars, add 1/2 teaspoon citric acid or 2 tablespoons lemon juice).
Ladle the tomato-chili mixture into each jar, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove bubbles with a spatula, wipe rims, and attach lids.
Add jars to canner, cover, bring to a boil and process 40 minutes for pints (50 minutes for quarts), adjusting heat as needed to maintain a soft boil. When timer goes off, remove lid, turn off heat and allow jars to sit in canner 5 minutes.
Remove jars from canner to a towel-lined counter and let cool 12 to 24 hours. Remove rings for storage and check lids to be sure they've sealed (gently pull up with your fingers). Refrigerate any that didn't seal.
Notes
*Add in 1-3 jalapeños for spice, if desired, as part of the 1 cup total chilies.
To Freeze Instead of Canning:
At step 3, remove from heat and let cool a bit before transferring to freezer-safe containers (if using plastic, cool completely before transferring).
Label and date containers and freeze for up to a year.
Note: if freezing, you could leave out the citric acid if you want, but since it is an ingredient in the commercial Rotel, it may affect the flavor.

Nutrition
Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 7kcal | Carbohydrates: 1.6g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 82mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 1g

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[JeepHead]

If your tomatoes do well, 40 plants is one heck of a lot. Better plan on selling at the farmer’s market, because you will have way more than you can use or can. Ask me how I learned the lesson not to plant too many tomatoes. We spent every weekend at the farmers market for 2 months.

I have thought about this actually and I am in a good position to set up a stand at the road and sell if needed. Perhaps, I can even sell to the Amish as they drive by on their buggies every day, and recoup some of my money from last year If I don't sell, I have plenty of family/friends, and coworkers to share the bounty with.

But I do plan to can an extreme about of juice this year as well as salsa and even whole tomatoes for sauces.

 

[DJ54]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Welcome...

 

[jyoutz]

I have thought about this actually and I am in a good position to set up a stand at the road and sell if needed. Perhaps, I can even sell to the Amish as they drive by on their buggies every day, and recoup some of my money from last year If I don't sell, I have plenty of family/friends, and coworkers to share the bounty with.

But I do plan to can an extreme about of juice this year as well as salsa and even whole tomatoes for sauces.

When we have extra tomatoes, after making enough salsa, we make and can marinara sauce. This recipe uses a lot of tomatoes. But it’s best if you have a huge 20 quart pot because you have to reduce it down by half by slow simmering. We don’t bother removing the seeds.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - National Center for Home Food Preservation

The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for home food preservation methods.

nchfp.uga.edu

 

[DJ54]

If your tomatoes do well, 40 plants is one heck of a lot. Better plan on selling at the farmer’s market, because you will have way more than you can use or can. Ask me how I learned the lesson not to plant too many tomatoes. We spent every weekend at the farmers market for 2 months.

I always overplant as you never know what kind of year you'll have. Found that out 50 years ago when we had a bad year, and not quite enough to make what Mom wanted to put up. From that point on, Dad never set less than 12 dozen plants. The years we'd get surplus plants from the truck patches down on the Ohio River, as many as 30 dozen.

I usually set 10 dozen, but my cages are getting tired so cut back to 8 dozen I set last evening. I can a lot myself but have friends and acquaintances that either don't have the space or just too old to garden anymore that will come pick to preserve. Usually have enough to take a local food kitchen around a bushel a week they preserve to make pasta sauce. A friend of mine volunteers there as a cook, and they really appreciate them.

Guess that's what happens when both your parents grew up through the Depression and raised the majority of their own food to survive. We may not have had the best of everything, but we never went hungry.

 

[jyoutz]

I always overplant as you never know what kind of year you'll have. Found that out 50 years ago when we had a bad year, and not quite enough to make what Mom wanted to put up. From that point on, Dad never set less than 12 dozen plants. The years we'd get surplus plants from the truck patches down on the Ohio River, as many as 30 dozen.

I usually set 10 dozen, but my cages are getting tired so cut back to 8 dozen I set last evening. I can a lot myself but have friends and acquaintances that either don't have the space or just too old to garden anymore that will come pick to preserve. Usually have enough to take a local food kitchen around a bushel a week they preserve to make pasta sauce. A friend of mine volunteers there as a cook, and they really appreciate them.

Guess that's what happens when both your parents grew up through the Depression and raised the majority of their own food to survive. We may not have had the best of everything, but we never went hungry.

Wow. That’s very ambitious. I have a quarter acre garden, but only plant 4 tomatoes. I use concrete wire mesh to make 5’ cages and the openings are large enough to reach through to pick. With 4 plants 6’ high, I pick 2 5 gallon buckets full each week. That’s all we care to mess with.