The Alley Garden 2014 Beginnings

Gardening in 2014 has started off quite slowly. 

The weather has been cool which has made for about a month long delay in planting.  

April 20th through April 27th the garden began to take shape. 

Broccoli, cabbage, onions, kale, lettuces, peppers,

and tomatoes went into the garden with 

cucumbers & cantaloupe seeds started in the house.  

Everything is planted!!!  Now its time to water, weed, feed, and protect it.  

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Just a few days later the kale, butter crunch lettuce and the black seeded Simpson is looking good.

Canning Granny: Ask Granny... What Made The Old Ball Jars Blue?

Canning Granny: Ask Granny... What Made The Old Ball Jars Blue?: Q. What made the old Ball jars blue? A. I've had several people ask this question and didn't really k...

WHEN THE HONEY HOLE GIVES YOU CUCUMBERS YOU MAKE PICKLES

Cucumber patch that is now triple this size

Fresh Dill

 

I have tried many homemade dill, sweet, and bread and butter pickles in my life but none have ever matched up to the recipe that I use for my DILL PICKLES. 

  It is so easy to do because one has the choice of using it as refrigerator pickles or as water bathed if you want to keep them even longer.  Today I canned 4 quarts which makes my 3rd time pickling this season and I have made 12 quarts and several pints with some banana peppers pickled with the excess brine.  Here is my recipe for...

Kosher Packed Pickles

2 quarts water
1 quart vinegar
1/4 cup canning salt                          
1 tsp. alum
4 sprigs fresh dill to each quart
1-2 cloves garlic sliced to each quart
1 jalapeno pepper to each quart (less if you don't like a little heat)

Bring vinegar, water, and salt to a boil.  Turn off heat and add alum, 

stir and begin pouring the brine over your pickles packed in jars.  

To pack jars:  Wash and dry the jars and add pepper, garlic, 

and dill to bottom of jar. Begin packing pickles in jars so that 

each jar is full, tightly packed.  *I choose my cucumbers that 

are smaller and the ones that are bigger I will cut in half or into 

fourths for spears.  I don't leave them whole unless they are less 

than three inches long.

If one is going to can them, follow the guidelines of water bathing

which is generally 15 min. water bath for quarts.  Just takes enough 

time so that the seal is good on the jars since they contain so

much acid and salt.  However one wants to eat them right away 

let them cool in the sealed jars, pop them in the fridge and wait, and 

wait, and wait.  No seriously, just wait three days and then enjoy them.  

Once the jar is open and stored in fridge one can eat off of them for 

several months but they won't last that long if one loves pickles.  

You will love these.  

Ready to Eat

  

ONIONS

ONIONS ONIONS & MORE ONIONS

 This year on April 6 2013 the onions were planted with hopes of a bumper crop.  Well that is exactly what was harvested.  A bumper crop.  180 onions to be exact, nearly half red and half white. 

I have been told that one should, "Never let a July rain fall on the onion crop."  For gardeners that means get them out sometime in late June so they do not rot.  This year when the last day of June ended it began raining therefore a July rain fell on the onion crop.  It rained for two days and were finally able to be pulled on the 5th of July. 

Now that's a wagon of Onions

With high hopes of braiding onions this year they were laid out on a table to cure for a few days however after some research I realized that time was not on my side.  The weather here has been humid with pop-up showers every other day and my onions were not going to wait to be braided.  I managed to cure them before the rains hit again and then cut the tops off of them leaving about 3 to 4 inches on the tops.  They need to dry again for a few days after the removal of the tops and I was able to fit all 180 in my wagon to dry the rest of the way.  After another threat of rain I decided that I better get them in their bags and hanging.  I was able to get about 20 in each of my drying bags that I use to store them for winter.  I hang them in the utility room in my house for the winter and they will generally last till January or February. 

Curing for another 5 days after removing the tops

OH THE FLAVORS

A lady I attended church with told me a story once about how a small family had been going through a rough time and were all ill.  When God impressed upon her to make them a pot of chicken noodle soup she panicked because all she had in the fridge was a couple limp celery stalks and limp carrots.  Wanting to do what she felt God had told her to do she grabbed the limp veggies, added some onions and garlic to the pot with some left over chicken she had cooked the night before.  She added some some fresh thyme and other spices and left it to cook for a while.  Turned out it was one of the best pots of chicken noodle soup she had ever made.  That lady's story made me think twice about whats in my fridge and throwing stuff away that may not be perfectly fresh.  

I love flavor!!!  It can make or break a dish.  I have watched my grandmothers, aunts, and mother cook for years and years and never gave any thought to what they put in every recipe.  Everything my grandmother and mom made was full of flavor and goodness.  When I started cooking I didn't realize how important spices other than salt and pepper were but I have seen the light over the years and love herbs and spices.  
I have a list of foods be it herbs, spices, veggies, or sauces that are must haves.


Things one should always have in the fridge:

• Garlic
• Onions
• Ginger
• Cilantro
• Peppers
• Carrots
• Celery
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Hot Pepper Sauce
• Soy Sauce

If you have these things in your fridge you can make about anything taste good, from chicken to plain hamburger.  

And my list of go to spices that I must have are:

• Cumin
• Chili Powder
• Oregano
• Sage
• Thyme
• Curry
• Dill
• Paprika
• Crushed Red Pepper
• Cayenne

From all these things I can make pot pies, tacos, chili, meatloaf, stir-fry, soups, stews, salad dressings, and so much more.  

Right now I have chives, flat leaf parsley, dill, cilantro, cayenne, garlic, mint, and basil growing in my herb pots and around the yard and garden.  Herbs especially dill, basil, cilantro, parsley, and mint are hardy and can be grown from seed easily.   

Basil in Planter

 I planted my seed this spring in early may and as you can see from the pictures below the dill and basil are doing great!  The dill seed was even seed that I had harvested from my mature dill last season.

Dill Patch

MAMMOTH DILL

Someone appreciates the softness of baby dill.

 The dill was planted for the sole purpose of making dill pickles but Skittle seems to like the softness of the mammoth dill that has yet to mature.  The dill seed was saved from last years dill crop and I was so pleased when I planted it this spring that it came up and looks great.  As far as Skittle is concerned, this isn't the first time I have caught him inside the small fence of the dill.  He seems to think that this is an appropriate place to sit and hide and watch the birds in the bird bath just a few feet away.

The birdbath is pretty close to the cucumbers "Honey Hole"

The cucumbers are about an inch long right now and it will not be more than a week or two before I can pick them and start canning.  Dill pickles are one of the main things that I can each summer and I have a recipe that everyone who tries them loves.  I will post my pickle recipe later.  The first year I made them from this recipe I went to the farmers market and bought 10 lbs of small cucumbers and couldn't make enough of them because the kids loved them.

Another hiding place for Skittle.

EARLY VEGETABLES

Early vegetables that we plant and which can survive the harsh cold of early spring are cabbage, broccoli, red cabbage, kale, lettuce, and although there are many others that one can plant these are the staples that we enjoy and stick to planting year after year.

The first of the broccoli and cabbage plants are ready for harvest which is made even more delightful by the fact that we planted most of them from seed in the midst of winter and watched them produce to full maturity.

The cabbage and broccoli we harvested yesterday was used to make stir-fry today.

I simply use garlic, onions, and peppers and saute them in a little oil in my non-stick skillet and throw on top of them some fresh ground ginger, the broccoli, and cabbage that I have shredded with a knife and let it simmer on low till the veggies are done but not over cooked.  (Even if you over cook this its still good)