Gardening pics, hacks, successes, and or failures

Peach Time!

Had a fairly good crop this year.

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Past couple days have been busy dealing with the harvest and canning.

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The last of them will come down today and tomorrow - headed for my favorite jam: Peach & Blackberry!

YUM!
Jealous! Our peaches were amazing 2 years ago but frost got the flowers this year and last. Tree ripened peach has got to be my favorite fruit of all time.

Roasted some fresh lemon tyme, potatoes, patty pan, hot peppers, carrots and store bought red onion and celery with some chicken thighs for supper. Simple yet amazingly tasty.
 

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Peach and Blackberry Jam

Ingredients:

3 cups (750 ml) crushed or finely chopped peaches, about 3 lb (1.4 kg)

2 cups (500 ml) blackberries, about 3/4 lb (350 g), 1 pint

2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice

4 ounces Peach Schnapps

1.5 pkg (57 g) BERNARDIN® Original Fruit Pectin

6 cups (1500 ml) granulated sugar

1/2 tsp (2 ml) ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp (1 ml) ground ginger

Directions:

Place 6 clean 250 ml mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside. Heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and lids hot until ready to use.

Blanch, peel, pit and finely chop or crush peaches one layer at a time. Measure 3 cups (750 ml) peaches. Measure sugar; stir in cinnamon and ginger and set aside.

In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine peaches, blackberries, schnapps and lemon juice, 1/2 tsp (2 ml) butter or margarine to reduce foaming. Gradually add BERNARDIN® Original Pectin, stirring until dissolved. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Add all of the sugar – spice mixture. Stirring constantly, return mixture to full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam, if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into a hot jar to within 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) of top of jar (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if required, by adding more jam. Wipe jar rim removing any food residue. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining jam.

When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process – boil filled jars – 10 minutes.*

When processing time is complete, turn stove off, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place.

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Cheers
 
Here’s a new one for me….wife turned some of her zucchini into pineapple. It’s amazingly good and she says it’s pretty easy.


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Peppers and tomatoes basically stopped doing stuff for the last week or so. Lots of tomatoes, but limited new growth. Has been a mediocre year for peppers for me. Hoping for a warm September to hopefully get a decent harvest
x3
 
Our tomatoes have stopped taking water so I thinned out the leaves and did a pick.
Sun Dipper are the orange tomatoes, the small marble size tomatoes are Candy Land
and they only grow to marble size and there are thousands on the plant.
The Romano plant is loaded and can barely hold the fruit.
 

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How much, and when, do you guys really thin out your plants for ripening? How much of the foliage do you remove? My wife's tomatoes are an absolute jungle with tons of green fruit. I advised her to do some trimming but she's more cautious about it than I am.
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I hacked back my peppers last week and the ripening finally got going. I was worried about not being able to harvest it all in a short window. I want to process it all at once if possible. Right now I'm getting a pepper per plant per day that is ripe enough to pick. It's a slow go.
20240828_070039.jpg
 
How much, and when, do you guys really thin out your plants for ripening? How much of the foliage do you remove? My wife's tomatoes are an absolute jungle with tons of green fruit. I advised her to do some trimming but she's more cautious about it than I am.
View attachment 109949

I hacked back my peppers last week and the ripening finally got going. I was worried about not being able to harvest it all in a short window. I want to process it all at once if possible. Right now I'm getting a pepper per plant per day that is ripe enough to pick. It's a slow go.
View attachment 109950
Here ia a good video on when to pick tomatoes. I personally do not thin the plants because when i have done so the tomatoes get sun scald.
 
How much, and when, do you guys really thin out your plants for ripening? How much of the foliage do you remove? My wife's tomatoes are an absolute jungle with tons of green fruit. I advised her to do some trimming but she's more cautious about it than I am.
View attachment 109949

I hacked back my peppers last week and the ripening finally got going. I was worried about not being able to harvest it all in a short window. I want to process it all at once if possible. Right now I'm getting a pepper per plant per day that is ripe enough to pick. It's a slow go.
View attachment 109950

How much, and when, do you guys really thin out your plants for ripening? How much of the foliage do you remove? My wife's tomatoes are an absolute jungle with tons of green fruit. I advised her to do some trimming but she's more cautious about it than I am.
View attachment 109949

I hacked back my peppers last week and the ripening finally got going. I was worried about not being able to harvest it all in a short window. I want to process it all at once if possible. Right now I'm getting a pepper per plant per day that is ripe enough to pick. It's a slow go.
View attachment 109950
There’s a million different opinions on pruning. To keep it simple, just keep foliage off the ground, prune suckers, and trim when heights get well above whatever your support it. Or, just a total neglect cause manicured gardens are for retired people who have no other commitments/obligations/interests.
 
How much, and when, do you guys really thin out your plants for ripening? How much of the foliage do you remove? My wife's tomatoes are an absolute jungle with tons of green fruit. I advised her to do some trimming but she's more cautious about it than I am.
View attachment 109949

This looks good to me bottom ones so nothing touching the dirt and then up to 1/3 for air flow
 
Any idea whats wrong with my apple tree. Its 4 years old. I dormant spray a few times over the winter and once right before blossoms.
PXL_20240828_014217461.jpg
 
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