Holy cow, from the eighties down to 33 degrees F, forecast for Friday night/Saturday morning. It’s been a very challenging summer for the gardens so far and we sure didn’t need that. We’ve still got a lot of crops that are not mature enough to pull in or handle a frost. And, with 6 gardens on 5 acres, we sure can’t cover everything. So, we pray. And work like heck, pulling in hundreds of pounds of tomatoes, both for seed saving and to make into various tomato recipes to can. We also went to town when it poured rain and bought several big plastic tarps to cover what we can.
When the rain quit, our friend, Heather, came over and we girls went out and picked seven crates of tomatoes for us and also three buckets of tomatoes for her to take home to her family. We always enjoy working together and today was very nice. Except for the specter of that frost hovering over everything. (All those wonderful tomatoes might go to waste if it freezes too hard!) Then there’s Brad, the PBS fellow, who was going to come out on Monday to photograph harvesting tomatoes. If we get a frost, there won’t be much to take pictures of. I emailed him and perhaps he can come out tomorrow … before the frost hits us and makes everything droopy and black. Pray hard for us, everyone!
— Jackie
We are all hoping you had a warmer night than predicted, and gardens are busy providing still.
SOS…in using your recipe for salsa, I had a much larger amount of tomatoes so tried to increase other ingredients the same percentages. But I recall you have warned us about acid levels if the balance is changed too much, and now wonder if I should have pressure canned instead of bw bath. What if my measurements were off a bit? Should I be concerned?
No, I wouldn’t worry. It’s not an exact recipe. You just don’t want to throw in lots and lots of peppers and onions just because you have them. If you keep the balance about right, they’ll be fine.
We had frost but it was spotty and not really heavy. Whew!!
salsa information, thank you! i seem to always have ‘a bit too much or not enough of one’ so i try to ‘balance and seems to work. wondering about halving or deleting salt? hope you keep the low 30’at bay till harvested
prayers for a moderation in the frost temps! we unfortunately had our first 29 up in the higher elevations, gardening always a chance there. fortunately for us lower still 40’s last week, but now the upper90’s! with only smoke cover form the fires. no chance of rains. not a single jalapeno this year! was so looking forward to cowboy candy! Anaheim’s, tomatillos and heirloom tomatoes are going well. did up a couple canners of Verde sauce and salsa. worms(followed by the birds, thank you) have done in the corn here. cornmeal corn is drying well, worms must not enjoy as well. sure hope everyone gets in SOME harvest. poor Wills back, i know the feelin. its wonderful so many friends to help you beat the frost:)
We had 30 degrees F for about an hour. Frost but not a bad one. It burned some leaves on the corn and squash, but everything looks good, anyway. Whew!!
We save our sweet corn by stapling paper lunch bags over each ear. The worms, we kill using a couple of drops of mineral oil on each silk, next to the tip. Our garden was tough this year too, but then there’s always next year!!
Hi Elizabeth,
That “oh my God, you’ll die of botulism if you don’t peel your tomatoes and potatoes” is way crazy in my humble opinion. Hey, don’t we eat the skins on baked potatoes, country fries and fried potatoes? How about the skins on tomatoes raw from the garden, in salads and sandwiches? And killing botulism is WHY we can those things in the first place. I do scrub my potatoes well before canning them. Not because of fear of botulism but because we don’t like eating dirt!
I’m hoping for no frost! Crazy weather this year in northwest Wisconsin but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else! Except northern Minnesota 😊
We did get a frost. But thankfully, it wasn’t really hard. It got the squash vines but only some of the beans and peppers. The corn seems okay. It’s early yet though. We wouldn’t live anywhere else. (Yeah, Montana, if we were rich!!!)
prayers!
Thank you! They helped; only a light frost. Whew!!
We hit 27 a few days ago! Fortunately frost sensitive plants were in the green house and hoop house with extra heat. The potatoes got burned pretty bad. I’m still recovering from a stroke so my daughter is stuck with most of the heavier work. Good luck.
We had 30 this morning but only for awhile. We did have the heaters on in the hoop houses, though, just in case. Our potatoes were nearly done anyway so no loss there. We are so thankful it wasn’t worse. Here’s hoping you recover quickly. It’s always tough when our bodies play tricks on us, isn’t it??
Prayers for you and the gardens.
Thank you so much. They are mostly ok, although we did get a light frost.
Yikes!! I was sure hoping frost would hold off. Praying you miss the frost. We are to get down to the low 40’s here and I live on a bottom, so we usually are a couple of degrees cooler. It will be what it will be. Yesterday was very warm, 88 degrees and today it is 74 with a stiff north wind. Much cooler, but still lovely. The highs on Saturday are predicted to be in the mid 60’s. I’m thinking chili, lol. Sending prayers for a blessed week with no frost.
Thanks again, Marilyn!! We got our frost but luckily it was a light one and we are mostly okay. This next week, it’s supposed to be in the high 70’s. Eeek!
Praying and sending my love.
Thank you so much Elizabeth. That’s much appreciated!! We did get a frost but were mostly prepared and not a whole lot of damage.
Here in Southern Wisconsin predicted low of 43. Definitely getting cooler. I have lots to harvest-which is a good thing. Now is a mad sprint before frost. I had 4 chicks born with a broody hen in August. It’s seems my Buff Orpington birds only get broody in late summer. I pray your crops don’t freeze! Do you ever can potatoes? I’ve been advised the first killing frost comes with the October full moon. Maybe that is the case in your zone ?3. Good luck
Hi, Everett, I have many times, so far no problems, with and without skins. Some say to peel so that nasty botulism can’t hide in peeling. I’ve gone by Jackie’s recipe, p 147,148 in Growing and Canning Your Own Food, many times, for pressure-canning potatoes. She says to scrub peelings well, or peel completely. Works either way.
We worked like dogs for 3 days, getting ready for a frost, which usually comes if they predict it. It did come, but we were pretty ready, and frost sensitive plants mostly survived.
Yes, I can potatoes all the time. We love our little new potatoes with the skin on, potato chunks and dices. Very good. I use a lot of getting-old potatoes this way (not new potatoes with skins, obviously).
You must be all not that far from me – our predicted low was 43 also. Of course the forecast is calling for mid-to-high 80s come Wed thru Fri.
While canning is an option, nothing beats storing them in the fruit cellar/backroom of basement. Just my opinion (and preferred way of eating). One of these days I’ll experiment with commercially canned potatoes – they really don’t fry up well out of the can. I’m sure someone has a suggestion for getting them to brown up (short of deep frying).
We’re 90 miles south of Canada. We got 30 degrees instead of the forecasted 33. That’s why we never believe the forecasts!! We got frost but not too bad, although we covered a lot.
We love our canned potatoes!! And yes, I do fry the dices. Just cover the bottom of the pan with oil then dump in the dices. I use medium heat and stir them around every 10 minutes or so. Not all crispy but pretty good. I like them as they don’t take so long to fry tender and the other canned potatoes are great for a fast roast dinner, stews, etc. Wouldn’t be without them and it’s a good use of getting-old potatoes.