Soil Testing

I'm starting to get ready for next year, and I've been reading up on adding things like lime and blood meal and kelp meal and all kinds of crazy stuff to the soil to keep it from getting depleted of all its nutrients.  In order to know what to add to the soil, I had to test it.

I ordered a soil test kit from ACE Hardware.  I don't know if it was only available online, because it only had a Free Pickup in Store option.  After ordering, I got an email that said I would get another email when the kit was ready to be picked up.  It said that the order WOULD NOT be ready for pickup until I got the phone call.  I did not get an email.  I got a phone call.  If I wanted to talk to people, I wouldn't have ordered online!

Anyway, I picked it up today, and was super stoked to do chemistry.  Now, I'm sure I did stuff like this in high school chemistry, but I do not remember most of it.  I remember where I sat, but that's about it; I'm pretty sure I've blocked the rest.  Why I was so excited today, I don't know, but I got to work right away!

The first thing I did was dig out the soil from four different places in the garden, which was recommended.  It had to be taken from a depth of four inches.  I figured they probably meant to do that if you have a super large plot, but I did it anyway because I was a bit enthusiastic ...

The soil from all four sections had to be mixed in a 1:5 ratio of soil to water and shaken.  I chose to put them all in canning jars that I have stored in the garage.  I had a larger amount of both soil and water in the first two jars, then did a little less for the second two because I realized I didn't really need that much.  I shook the soil/water mixture up quite a bit and then let it sit.  The tests have to be done with clear water for ease of reading results.

Mid-read

While the soil was settling, I got to work on the pH test, since that required mixing directly in the tester.  It took about a minute to get the results.  All four soil samples could have been interpreted as either neutral or slight acid.

A few hours later, I decided that the soil had settled enough in the jars to proceed with the other tests.  Now, for each of these, you get a little capsule that you have to open up and pour into each tester.  Have I mentioned yet that I also got to use an eye dropped to put the water in the testers?  Whoo!  These three tests were for (left to right) nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus.

Right after adding the water

Ten minutes later ...

The colors of the soil samples look a bit different in the photos than they did just in the daylight.  The nitrogen test came out as deficient for all four soil samples., the potash test came out as sufficient for all four, and phosphorus was adequate for all four samples.  I wasn't really expecting anything different, but I had a lot of fun!

The next step is to figure out what nutrients to add to the soil so that my veggies grow really well next year!

Cold Frame Construction

Since I've been getting into gardening more the last two years, I've been trying to figure out how to extend my gardening season.  I do have a small, portable greenhouse that I used this spring to start my plants from seed, and I loved it so much that I wanted to expand.  With the thought of building a mini-hoop frame, I checked several books out of the library a few months ago.  That's how I came across The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener.  I purchased it almost immediately, because this book flippin' rocks!  There's so much incredible information, not only about gardening in the winter, but also how to prepare soil for, plant, tend, and harvest just about anything you can think of growing.  There is also a very handy timeline towards the end of the book that tells you everything you should be doing throughout the year, which makes it very easy to plan your gardening.

After reading up on winter gardening, I immediately knew that we needed to try a cold frame.  A cold frame is a box sunk into the ground in which you can grow vegetables into the winter, and also start your plants earlier in the spring.  The book includes plans for building a cold frame, but the instructions are a bit mixed up (the wood shown isn't the size of the wood you should be buying - i.e. it will say you need a 2x4 when you actually need a 2x6).  However, my wonderful husband Matt was able to figure it all out, and he went out and got everything we needed in the proper size.

Our friends Kat and Dave came by to help us get started last weekend.  Our two families have been exchanging produce and labor all summer.  For instance, Kat helped me pit cherries, so I helped her harvest her elder flowers.  Since they helped out with the cold frame, we'll be heading over to their house to help them with their next project.  I've really enjoyed this exchange all summer, and I look forward to continuing it next year!

Anyway, Dave and Matt were able to construct the lid, for which we used some plexiglass that we had left over from another project.  Because we already had that bit of material, we decided to construct the box to fit the plexiglass.  Therefore, the cold frame is about 2.5'x5'.  I was going to start digging the hole to sink it in the ground, but I got stung by the same honeybee three times, and it got me all out of sorts.

This weekend, Matt finished up constructing the cold frame while I finished digging the hole.  We decided to place it behind the garage, as it's recommended that the cold frame face south.  Most of the yard is shadowed by the garage, the peach trees, or the school, but the backside of the garage gets a LOT of sun.  I had to move one of my burning bushes in order to make room for the cold frame.  It may not survive the transplant, but since none of the three bushes have ever turned bright red like they're supposed to, so no big loss.

Last week I contacted Julie, Inc. to have them come out and mark any buried lines in our backyard.  They have a great online form now.  (Julie is just for Illinois, so if you're in a different state, make sure you find out who to call!)  That's very important so that you don't hit a gas line or electrocute yourself!  We didn't have anything in our backyard, so I was able to dig without any concerns. 

I made the hole slightly larger than the cold frame so that I could fill in some dirt around the sides and about 8"-12" deep.  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to dig it.  I'm so spoiled by the sandy soil up in Michigan, where digging a hole for a tree takes about 30 seconds.  This took me about three hours.  Cruddy clay soil.  I decided I would make a rubbish grave digger; after all, I'm an old-fashioned girl.

While I was doing that, Matt was building the rest of the cold frame.  He actually did most of the work while I was working yesterday morning, which was a nice surprise to come home to!  Because he worked on it while I was gone, I don't really have any photos.

The finished product is quite nice.  We still have to put some weather stripping on the lid to keep out the elements, but otherwise, it's done!

Finally, we put it in the ground.  I filled in soil all around the sides and in the back for extra protection) and because I ran out of places to dump the soil that I dug out.  I also put a few inches back inside the bottom.  I then added two bags of nice top soil.

The last thing to do is start planting my seeds, although it might be too late to get any significant harvest.  Seeds are supposed to be sowed about 12 weeks prior to the first frost to give the plants time to grow.  However, the cold frame had to be installed now anyway, because I'll start sowing my spring plants in February or March!!!  Today we opened the lid, and heat just about came billowing out.  So, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out!  If you want to make your own cold frame, go check out The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener. 

Garlic Pickles

I am the biggest fan of pickles.  I love 'em!  They are so wonderful and spicy and salty and seriously, I could probably eat an entire jar of pickles in one sitting.  Of course, that means that I grow my own pickling cucumbers.  However, I'm very sad to report that this year, my cucumber plants got all dried out and weird, even when getting as much water as the rest of the garden.  The few cucumbers that I did get grew in an almost gourd-like shape, so they weren't really useable.

So, I cheated.

I went to the farmer's market.

I'm using a recipe from The Complete Book of Small Batch Canning, which calls for about three pounds of cucumbers, and I got just a bit over three pounds.  I also sliced them into spears.

I discovered pickling lime last year when making pickled jalapenos.  It helps keep the vegetables firm, so I decided to give it a try with the pickles this year.  I use Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime.  It's a difficult thing to find.  The only place near me that had it was WalMart, and I absolutely loathe WalMart.  I feel dirty just walking into the place, and when I bought the pickling lime, it was actually the first time I'd been in a WalMart in about ten years.  YUCK.  If you can find the pickling lime somewhere else, I highly recommend that you do so.  I actually bought several packages so that I wouldn't have to go back again.  Otherwise, my policy is that if you shop at WalMart, you then have to make a donation to a charity, like a food bank, since WalMart pays crap and destroys businesses. 

Anyway, I digress.  Pickling lime is a nightmare.  You have to be careful not to breathe in the powder, and anywhere that the drops of pickling lime water drops, you'll end up with a crusty white mess.  It also crusts on the glass bowls, so you need to absolutely SCRUB them when you're done.  It's not fun.  But, you'll theoretically end up with super crispy pickles.

The first step was to mix a 1/2 cup pickling lime with 1 gallon of water.  I then set the cucumbers to soak for about three hours.  (You can soak them anywhere between two hours and overnight - they were very firm at three hours, so I decided to pull them.)

The second step is to rinse the cucumbers three times (I transfer them between a sieve and a bowl, and let the water run over the bowl I'm transferring them from as I rinse them by handfuls).

After that, you soak the pickles in ice water for three hours.  I think you can probably soak them longer than that.  I actually took them out after three hours and put them in the fridge, since I didn't have a chance to can them on the same day that I was doing all of the prep work.

The next day, I made the vinegar mixture, added some onion, garlic, and dill to the jars, and then packed the jars with the cucumbers.  I processed them in the pressure cooker as directed.

When they were cooling, though, I noticed that some of the liquid had come out of the jars.  This is called siphoning, and it happens for a myriad of reasons: the jars are overfilled, over-tightened, under-tightened, if the rim over the jar isn't clean, if you process too long ...  Last time it happened, I hadn't tightened the jars enough, and I suspect that's what happened.  It's no big deal - they just get stored in the fridge instead of the pantry and have to be used sooner.  I had been planning on making a second batch after hitting the farmer's market today anyway, so I'll just be more careful!

UPDATE:  I just tried the pickles that I processed.  They were total mush - like they'd been thoroughly cooked.  The pickles that I made after this, the ones that I didn't process, are good.  I will never process pickles again!

Pesto

I've been making pesto for about a year now, and I absolutely love it.  I only tried it for the first time about two years ago, and now that I make my own, I can never go back to store-bought.  It just doesn't taste quite as good as homemade!  This summer, however, is the first time that I've preserved it.

Our basil is fresh from the garden.  I have about six plants right now, but next year, I'm hoping to expand my entire herb garden.  It will definitely include more basil!

To my great annoyance, pesto isn't something that is canned.  Rather, you freeze it, but that means you have to use it up within a few months.  Earlier in the summer, I froze two large batches in freezer jars.  They will work well for when we use large portions of it for pizza or as a spread.

Today, however, I decided to try freezing it in ice cube trays, which are more convenient for individual portions!  I read about it in the book Get Started Preserving!  However, that's not the recipe I use.  I based my own recipe off of several, and really, pesto's not that difficult.  My husband, though, is lactose intolerant, so I don't add any cheese to our pesto. If you ARE going to add cheese, do not add it to the pesto you're going to freeze - you'll have to add it right before you actually use it.

Here's my recipe:

3/4 cup pine nuts
3 to 5 cups basil
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
pepper

Put the pine nuts and garlic in a food processor - pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor.  Add the basil a handful at a time, blend.  Add olive oil - I eyeball it, pouring it in a bit at a time until the pesto is the consistency that I prefer, which comes out to a few tablespoons.  I also then add a few twists of pepper from our pepper mill and blend again until nice and smooth.

Basil

Pine nuts

After I made the pesto, I used a small spatula to scoop it into the ice cube tray.  I got 8 cubes out of the above recipe.

Once the pesto was completely frozen, I popped the pesto cubes out.  I put them in a quart freezer bag, sucked all the air out with a straw, and then tossed them back into the freezer.

Fruit Tree Spraying

Today I ran up to our farm in Michigan after work to spray the fruit trees.

Let me give you a little overview of the farm.  In the front yard, I have one two-year cherry, two one-year cherries, one five-year cherry, and two 70-plus-year cherries.

The back is divided into several areas.  Around the Little House (a two-room house that was originally used as a caretaker's house) is what's left of the original orchard - four pear trees and three apple trees.  We actually found another pear tree while clearing out an overgrown patch this spring!  Though some of the fruit was added by my great-grandparents and my grandparents, I believe that these particular trees were already there when my family purchased the property in the 1940's, so they're all at least 70 years old.  There is a younger pear tree out in front of the Little House.  I don't know for sure when that was planted, but it's probably been there about 20 years.

The apple trees from the original orchard

I've added three apple trees (originally four, but one died this winter) and two pears in the field behind the original orchard and two apples in front of the house.

Apple/pear orchard

There is another field that juts out, and there are three first-year peach trees residing in that field.

As you'll see, all of the new trees have cages around them.  This is to deter deer.  The cages are comprised of three 6' lengths of 1x4 and two 4' lengths of 1x1.  I've got chicken wire stapled around the top of the wood, which allows access for me through the bottom to prune and wire and whatever else I need to do, but keeps the deer from nibbling on the tender trees.

We've been having various problems with insects as well as fungal issues.  Because protecting the environment is a concern for me, I researched organic insecticides and fungicides.  I finally decided to give neem oil a try.  Not only is it safe for the environment it's used in, it seems to be sustainable.  (If you run across something that says otherwise, please let me know.)  Because I have so many trees to spray, I purchased a 2-gallon sprayer from Home Depot, which cost about $20.  It worked really well!

For the spray, I used neem oil for the garden.  It needs to be diluted in water, with a bit of environmentally-friendly dish soap added as an emulsifier.  For that, I actually dissolved a bar of neem oil soap in water.  I purchased all of these products from www.neemking.org.  Make sure that if you do try this, follow the directions!

I also checked to see if any of the old apple trees had anything worth picking, and not really.  Even though we have a ton of apples this year (they even broke two of the branches off!), they all were afflicted with scab.  (Hopefully, the neem oil mixture will fix that for next year!)  I did pick some of the riper ones anyway, just to see if I can peel the apples.  I also picked a few pear trees from the younger pear tree in front of the Little House.

And, finally, it is nice to know that the fallen fruit doesn't go to waste.  When I pulled in this afternoon, this is what I saw!  They later came back again and snorted at me.  How dare I trespass on their personal orchard?

Grape Jam

Last week I picked about 7 pounds of our Concord grapes with the idea that I'd make grape jam.  Well, the preparation for grape jam is more intensive than other preps.  Due to other things going on, I haven't had a chance to make the jam yet.  Tonight was pretty much my last chance, so I made two batches with four pounds of grapes and froze the rest.

Our grape arbor (sans fruit)

I used the Classic Concord Grape Jam recipe from the book Put 'Em Up! Fruit.  I'm not going to be listing any recipes here, because I really think you should go out and buy these books that I'm using.  If you're going to preserve any kind of fruit, I definitely recommend this book!  It has step-by-step instructions for beginners, lots of great tips, and so far, all of the recipes I've tried have turned out really well.

The first step was to pick all of the fruit off of the stems, wash them, and then weigh them.

Two pounds of grapes

Then came the tedious part - "popping" each grape to separate the skin from the rest of the fruit.  The skin went in one pot, the fruit in another.  Both were boiled and simmered.

Pulp

Skins

After that, the pulp went through my brand new Oxo food mill to separate out the seeds. I'm very excited to finally own a food mill, and so far, it seems to work great!  I'll have a better idea of how well it works when I use it for the blackberry jam I plan on making closer to Christmas.

I transferred the skins into the large pot, then added the pulp, sugar, and lemon juice, and boiled it until it hit 200 degrees F.  The setting point is 220 degrees F, but my thermometer never gets to that point.  Instead, I do the "wrinkle test".  Before starting, I put a plate in the freezer so it gets cold.  When I suspect that the jam is about set, I scoop a small spoonful onto the plate and put it in the fridge.  After a minute or so, I push my finger through the jam, and if it appears to wrinkle, then it's done.  So far, the wrinkle test hasn't failed.

The jam is set!

After getting a photo of the jam in the pot, I forgot I was taking photos to document it all.  Oops!

I filled the jars and put them in the pressure cooker for the correct amount of time.  It's a bit annoying how long it takes to actually process the jars.  I'm not sure if it varies from brand to brand, but with my pressure cooker, you have to vent it - which means that you wait until steam is coming out and then time the steam for 10 minutes - and then process it, which means that you turn to the pressure cooker setting and then wait AGAIN for the steam to come out.  The processing time starts from the time that the steam appears again.  After the processing time, you turn off the stove and wait for the pressure to drop (there's a nice little yellow indicator that drops).

Here are the jars of jam right after coming out of the pressure cooker.  From two batches, I ended up with six 4oz jars and seven 8oz jars.

About The Casual Canner ...

Greetings and salutations!  You may know me as the Casual Costumer (if not, hopefully that explains the Clockwork Droid in my profile photo).  If so, you're probably not surprised that dabbling in cosplay isn't my only hobby.  I've also been gardening and canning the past few years, though not with a passion.  In fact, this is the first year that I've really done more than put some plants in the ground and hope for the best.  I've also only canned strawberry jam, apple butter, and pickled jalapenos, so I'm branching out quite a bit in both areas this year.  And it's only going to get more crazy from here on out.

Because I've started really getting into growing fruits and vegetables this year, as well as furthering my journeys into the world of canning and preserving, I've decided to start a new blog about it, and since I love alliteration and consistency, Casual Canner it is.  If you're looking for solid advice about canning, gardening, or fruit growing, this is probably not the blog for you.  If you're also a casual canner or gardener, then you may find some amusement within these pages.  I don't have much idea what I'm doing, although I've been getting a lot of help from various books this year.  This is mainly for my own records, so my posts may not be as prolific or as intelligent as in my other blog.

As you probably can ascertain, I have a home garden, which stretches along the side of my house.  When I was a kid, and my parents were still married, we had a neighbor with a double lot.  He was an old man, unable to take care of his yard, so my dad rented the backyard and the side lot, dug it all up, and planted a massive garden with every vegetable you can imagine.  I remember well that the entire side yard was nothing but corn!  One of my earliest memories is sitting in the garden watching my dad work.  According to my father,  he knew that if I ever wandered off, I could be found in the back area of the garden munching on carrots that I'd pulled straight out of the ground.  (After growing my own carrots, I cringe to think about how much more dirt than carrots I must have consumed.) 

When we moved to our new house, my mom tried to grow a garden in the backyard, but never really succeeded for one reason or another.  After my mom remarried, my husband and I bought the house, and the school next door took down the chain link fence and put up a new wooden fence.  During that process, they also removed the fence that ran between the house and the school.  I took the opportunity to pull up the ridiculous bush that was growing next to the house, tilled all the grass under, and put in a garden.  There have been years when it was nothing but a mud pit because I didn't get around to planting anything, or I didn't know what to do with our crop and let the tomatoes fall off the vines, but I've done a pretty good job of at least making an effort the last few years.  And this year, I really went all out.  I grew almost everything from seed, used a portable greenhouse to strengthen my seedlings, and then transplanted everything into the garden.  I even made a cucumber/zucchini trellis, though it failed (the cucumbers half-heartedly tried to climb them before dying, and the zucchini grew in the opposite direction).

This year, I've grown tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, various herbs, potatoes, raspberries, cabbages, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, lettuces, spinach, brussels sprouts, eggplant, cauliflower, celeriac, beans, and probably other things that I've forgotten already.  My husband is also growing hops.

Partial view of garden

In addition to that, we have two 20-year-old peach trees in desperate need of a good prune and a grape arbor.

My mother's family also has a small farm in Michigan, which was originally my grandparents' home before becoming our entire family's summer home.  That really deserves its own post, but I'll briefly mention here that it used to be a working fruit farm.  For the past 70 years or so, we've grown blueberries, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, grapes, and pears.  Unfortunately, all of the fruit has been sadly neglected since I was a kid, but with the help of my husband, I've been taking care of the blueberry bushes for the last ten years.  We've also been working the past two years to add in new fruit trees, as the old trees are over 70 years old and don't produce very good fruit anymore.  I don't have the heart to chop them down, so I've been pruning them back a bit the last two years, and I've also added new fruit trees in the former sheep fields (oh yes, my grandparents briefly had sheep, chickens, and turkeys).  My efforts include revitalizing the grapes and planting new apple, pear, and cherry trees.  I've also added peaches, and I have wonderful plans next year for the raspberry and blackberry patches.

 

 

 

Partial view of outbuildings and the orchard - May 2013

 

So, what do I do with all of the wonderful produce that I grow?  Besides adding it into our meals, I make jam, jelly, and other canned goodies, and I also do a fair bit of freezing.  I've only been doing this on and off for a few years.  After I got married, I inherited quite a large extended family, and I quickly realized that mass-producing food is a great way to take care of all of your Christmas presents!  I remember watching my mom can when I was a kid, although, when my parents divorced and we moved to the new house, she quit canning.  (She blamed this on the fact that the new house didn't have double sink; after extensive canning this year, I understand her lamentations!)  So far this year, I've canned peach jam, peach conserve, sliced peaches, rhubarb/pear/ginger jam, cherry jam, cherry compote, salsa, apple rosemary jelly, raspberry curd, and more that I've forgotten.  They'll make great Christmas gifts!  I've also frozen dozens of cups of peaches, green beans, and pesto, and made some refrigerator pickles (I've never had success with canning pickles; they always get too soft).

Various cherry and raspberry items

Until next time!