Gardens Home & Garden

Off topic. @Toedtoes. Thanks for being persistent and chasing off the person whose name I will not say. Same too @Malka

Thanks. Hopefully they are truly gone.

Well my garden is blooming. The poker plants have already done their first blooms. The lion's tails are in full pride mode (pun intended):


The fuchsias are starting their blooms too:


I tasted my first Loch Ness blackberry - yum! It was sweet but firm with a bit of tartness to it. I can't wait until they are really producing in a year or two. There are several more berries ripening on both the Loch Ness and the Chester.

And my plums are starting to ripen up:


I have enough there to cold pickle about six or seven 8 ounce jars. I'm going to try these small batches to see what works. I will try the following flavor brines:

1. Citrus champagne vinegar
2. Honey white balsamic vinegar
3. Sicilian lemon vinegar with mint
4. Apple cider vinegar with star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and pink peppercorn
5. White wine vinegar with coriander, orange peel and nutmeg
6. White vinegar with mustard seed, dill seed and garlic

If that goes well this week, I'm going to expand on what I like introducing additional flavors and different fruits and veggies from the farmer's market. I really want to try cherry tomatoes in cucumber melon balsamic vinegar with juniper berries. And of course, I will do some dill pickles.

I did my first batch of pickling!

#5


#4


#6


And #3 with a change from sicilian lemon balsamic vinegar to blood orange balsamic vinegar


And all lined up


I'm going to have some folks taste test in a few days after they've pickled good and long.

I hope to taste test the pickled plums this week with some folks. We're expecting 104+ temps straight through the next two weeks so my pool is opened from 6-9 pm every day for friends. They will become taste testers.

But I found some plum jam recipes that don't require the hot water bath treatment. So I tried it. One recipe said 6 cups sliced plums to 1 cup sugar, another said 10 cups sliced plums to 5-6 cups sugar. So I went with the lower amount. It also said to let the sugar soak into the plums for up to an hour before heating. The result was way too sweet for my tastes.

So the next batch, I skipped the sugar altogether and added a minimal touch of cinnamon. That was a bit too tart, so I mixed the two batches together. Better.

Then I did a batch with 2 tbsp brown sugar and a lot more cinnamon. Mmmmm. I like.

I am using my smaller jars for the jam - 1 cup and 1 pint jars.

Now to wait for my blackberry and raspberry bushes to start producing in quantity - will be more jam with those.

Today, I am going to try my hand at my aunt's fridge dill pickle recipe. Those are going in 1 quart jars. I might try to pickle some cherry tomatoes later on this week.

Sounds like you’re really enjoying the fruits of your labor. You’re getting a heat wave longer than us. Got up to 94 at my house today, but I was in town and was able to enjoy walking by the ocean where there was a nice breeze. Unfortunately there are too many off leash dogs to feel good about walking my dogs there

Curious if others have been having issues on this site. I’ll be logged in and then when I try to post a comment I’m told I have to be logged in to do that. Just above, I liked @Toedtoes post, and then tried to make a post.. it has my name for the like and directly after I’m told I’m not logged in. I’ve been having this problem for probably a couple months

I haven't noticed any issues like that. You might try clearing your cookies and logging in again.

Yeah, this heat wave is ugly. I went swimming Monday evening and it helped a lot. It made everything feel a good 15 degrees cooler all night. Got caught up in pickling last night so didn't swim - and I'm feeling the difference.

@who owns who - I have not had that happen here, Marc, but on the discussion sites I post [and moderate] on it is a frequent occurrence. It shows my name and avatar beside the message pane, I type out my message but as soon as I hit "Post" it tells me I have to be logged in to post.

What is even more aggravating is when I open the Mod Panel to check things on those sites, I get the message that I do not have authority to enter them - and I am Admin on them!

@who owns who I haven't had any problems either.

First bunch of pickles made. Did some with apple cider vinegar and some with white wine vinegar to compare the flavors. Used dill seed in all with garlic and/or brown mustard seeds.

The this morning, I used cucumber melon balsamic vinegar to pickle some cherry tomatoes (dark jars).

You have been busy, I hope they turn out well. I'm not a fan of pickles though - except beetroot.

Me too. I actually love dill pickles. My aunt used to make them and I remember the jars on shelves inthe garage and my dad pulling a new jar off the shelf every once in a while. I always wanted to take a jar for myself, but I figured I'd get in major trouble for it.

OMG! The pickles are amazing! I did a few jars using apple cider vinegar and they are wonderful and just like I remember.

Then I did two jars using white wine vinegar. You get the tartness of the dill and vinegar, but then a touch of sweetness circling the pickle from the wine.

Now to get a hoard of cukes from the farmer's market and make a day of pickling. Will try pickling some cauliflower too.

The cherry tomatoes haven't soaked up the brine yet, so I'm letting those sit longer.

I have been given a thornless raspberry bush from a very heavy cropping parent. Of course for the first year there are only about 10 berries on it, but I have been watching closely for the first berry to reach perfect ripeness. Came home from Tally's trailing session to see a gleaming white central cone - some beastly bird has stolen it!

What a rotten bird!!! I was afraid of that with my first blackberry but I managed to snag it. The plants are all holding their own in this heat. As long as we get a wet winter, they should get big by next spring.

I've been enjoying my pickles so much I decided to make more. I thought about going to the farmer's market, but the AC in my car is not cooling down and it's 100+F (37+C) out this week. So, I ordered 9 lbs of "pickling cucumbers" from the store for delivery.

The shopper first asked "what cucumbers do you want?" - um the $2.99 per pound pickling cucumbers like I ordered...

Then she got me 12 pounds of them. I waited until they arrived to see how they were packaged - individual cukes, so no excuse to get me 3 lbs more than I wanted. I filed a complaint for it not being what I ordered and Instacart refunded me the full $35! So I got them for free. I wasn't expecting that but since the shopper also replaced the caramel ice cream cups with strawberry swirl cups without asking me, I figured I deserved the refund (I hate the strawberry swirl).

So, last night I made 2 jars of pickled sweet peppers - in honey balsamic vinegar - as I wouldn't be able to eat that many before they went bad. Then I made another 4 jars of pickles - with citrus champagne vinegar. I added a couple juniper berries to 2 of the jars and some pink peppercorn to one. All 16 oz jars.

My 32 oz jars arrived yesterday so I ran them through the dishwasher last night. Today I made 5 of the big jars plus 1 of the 8 oz using white wine vinegar for half and distilled white vinegar for the rest. I added 1/2 a pearl onion to 2 jars. Did the rest with just the dill, mustard and garlic.

Have another 4-6 jars worth of cucumbers still to go.

And I did it all with a shepherd laying right where I needed to stand. For such a well behaved, don't get noticed dog, she has perfected the art of being right where you are stepping. Her shades arrive tomorrow.

Have you grown all the sweet peppers yourself? I'm not sure that they would do as well over here. I buy them one at a time - usually 50 - 60p each. I don't think it would be economic to pickle them. I haven't tried pickled cucumber - you slice them I presume. We do get gherkins in jars, I think they are baby cucumbers.

I bought the sweet peppers. We get mini ones in pre-packaged bags at the store and my problem has always been that I can only eat so many out of the bag before they start to shrivel. I sliced these, but next time, I might try a jar of whole ones.

True gherkins are actually a different type of gourd from cucumbers, but many people use baby cucumbers as a substitute. Out here, kirby cucumbers are the most common cucumber to pickle as they stay smaller than others. You can usually pickle those whole as you can fit a lot in the jars.

The pickling cucumbers I got are really big so only maybe 1 or 2 can fit in a 32 oz jar if they are whole. So I cut some into spears and some into chips and get between 2 and 3 per jar. While I love whole pickles, the sliced ones are easy to snack on, add to sandwiches, etc.

My basic recipe for the brine is:

1 part vinegar
3 parts water
1 tbsp salt* per 1 cup liquid.

*you can use pickling salt, rock salt, or sea salt at this ratio - basically any kosher salt. Table salt requires a different amount and I think you have to add more, but it could be the other way around.

Play around with the ratios for your taste preference. Some recipes do 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water, others do 1 to 1, etc. And the salt level varies a lot as well. I like the above ratio for my tastes.

Some recipes also add sugar for a sweet touch to the pickles - white or brown.

Most recipes use either distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar - the latter has a bit stronger flavor to the pickle than the former. I really like the white wine vinegar ones - it adds a touch of sweetness without adding sugar but is still got that great dill tang.

For this recipe, you can also use balsamic vinegars. If doing traditional canning for shelf stable jars you need a vinegar with at least a 5% acidity level. But for refrigerator pickles you don't need to worry.

For spices, the most common for dill pickles are dill (seed, weed or sprig), mustard seeds and garlic. But people may add coriander, peppercorn, jalapeno, tumeric, etc. That's why I'm playing a bit with a jar here and there - to see if there if a combo I like better than what my aunts traditionally use. I did use dried minced garlic rather than fresh and that works fine. No real measurements - I just grab a large pinch of the dill seeds and mustard seeds each and then sprinkle in a bit of minced garlic. Again, just play for taste preference. I'm not big on garlic, so I put less of that in the jars just enough to add an edge but not enough that I'm tasting the garlic.

To make, stuff the jar with as many cucumbers as you can fit, keeping them below the rim of the jar. Add in your spices to the jar (you can add the spices before or after the cucumbers, I do after). Then heat the brine mixture to a boil so the salt dissolves and pour it over the cucumbers in the jar to just above the top of the cucumbers. Put the lid on and stick in the fridge. For sliced, you get the pickled taste within a few hours, but the longer you let them sit the better they taste. For whole, I'd let them sit for a week at least.

I haven't tried it, but my aunt reuses the brine to pickle hard boiled eggs. From what I've read, you can reuse the brine once safely. She also pickles beets. Lots of folks pickle cauliflower. I may try that.

Oh, and if you are short of brine for the jar, you can just add a bit of water to top it off (again, the ratio of vinegar to water is just taste preference). And if you have extra brine, you can jar it and put it in the fridge for later.