Winter is coming: is anybody preserving anything for the winter?

[Kansas Terri]

I think that I am going to learn how to dry flowers this coming week: we have some wild sunflowers in my garden that I can practice on and I think they would look pretty on my table this winter. I have ordered a book on the subject from the library and it should be in in 2 days time.

When I visited my folks last week we dried some apples: in their dry climate it took just 24 hours before they were dried and like leather and I brought some of them home for my freezer. I know they are dry but I think they will stay in better condition if I freeze them as well.

Is anybody else feeling the urge to put things by for winter?

 

[marlingardener]

Yes, but with our climate we put things by for winter a little differently. We have sun-dried tomatoes in the freezer, and when the second crop comes on in late October, I'll dry more. We can and freeze whenever a vegetable is plentiful, which isn't in early fall. We get a spring flush, and then keep things alive during the summer heat, and then hope for more tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc. when the fall temperatures and rain encourage growth.

 

[Trellum]

I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with the plants I got left in my garden, they're in pots, but I think I'll just cover them with plastic and hope for the best. Hopefully my calla lily doesn't mind it and next year she decides to bloom for me again.

 

[claudine]

I plan to dry some tomatoes for my boyfriend and me. I'm sure they'll make a perfect snack. We love other dehydrated fruits too.
Also, I hope that my mother will give me a few jars of her pickles. She makes the most delicious pickles in the whole world

 

[Kansas Terri]

I MIGHT have green beans to freeze, but I am afraid to go and look at them and see! I have been on vacation for 2 weeks and they honestly needed to be picked before we left!

 

[Carolyn]

I have nothing left to put up. We ate most of our produce or gave it away this summer. I still have potatoes in the fridge and can glean some tomatoes and peppers but otherwise ours is over...except for the peas I planted before we left for Colorado, they came up while we were gone!

 

[gata montes]

To be honest although many of my tomatoes, peppers and zucchini are still going strong - as I've already frozen and preserved just about everything I can and have room for and in every possible way too - I don't really have that much more left to do before winter arrives - other than dry some herbs and store the nuts when they are ready to be harvested - which I'm grateful for - as come December time I'm generally kept pretty busy harvesting, storing and preserving all my citrus fruits.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Yesterday I bought a lot of Granny Smith apples: they store well and they will give us apples for desserts for months. I do have apples of my own but they are not good cooked, as they are too bland and they do not hold their shape well.

I do have bell peppers, and I should try to make stuffed bell peppers some time. If people like them I may freeze some for the winter. To make my bell peppers larger I ought to pinch off the flowers and the tiny fruit, as they will not ripen anyways. It is better for the plant to put all of its energy into ripening the larger ones.

 

[headfullofbees]

I've had so much freezable food from my allotment, that we're having another freezer delivered tomorrow.

 

[Pat]

It sounds like you guys are having a good harvest this year. I did not plant anything this year so nothing to put away. I usually have some tomatoes and flowers but this year nothing. We really had a disappointing summer this year, it never got hot. I am planning to plant something next year not matter what.

 

[zigs]

Looks like we're gonna need a bigger solar drier.