Sunflowers for Chelle

Sunflowers for Chelle

Thanks for being such a good friend.

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How to Blanche Greens...Note to Self for Next Year

How to Blanche Greens...

Note to Self for Next Year

I started my greens (kales, swiss chard, and spinach) in hoop houses this year.  I've found, at least here in Michigan, that there are a lot of caterpillars and bugs that start to take over in July and August.  I've been trying to harvest as much as I can, as early as I can this year.  I hope to stop harvesting when the bugs start winning.  I don't want to spend hours de-bugging again this year.  I hope to spend my August canning green beans, not harvesting greens.

Harvest Greens--early in the morning works best b/c the leaves are most hydrated.  It is important to pick the leaves off from the bottom and work up.  The plants sprout new leaves from the top center.  You can see how I've stripped the stalks in the photo above; bottom up.

With Swiss Chard, you cut off the outer leaves, leaving the center for new leaves to grow.

Thoroughly wash greens.  I always look for any caterpillars. 

Pull the leaf off the stalk...this takes HOURS.  I usually get two empty tall pots and watch a movie while I do this.  One pot is for the stalks and bad leaves and the other for the good greens that are good for me to eat.

I chop up all the stalks for the chickens to eat.  I've bagged up and froze quite a few bags for the chickens to have next winter when they don't get armloads of weeds each day.  

I used a ladle to fill the freezer bags.  It is a close tie between whether I get more green or stalk at the end of the process.

After I've cleaned and stripped the greens I set the water on to boil.  While the water is heating up I get a big metal bowl of icy, icy water all ready to cool off the greens once they've been heated.  When the water is at a full boil I set the timer for 2 minutes as I dump in the greens and stir around.  Once stirred, I put the lid on the pot and wait for the timer.

Everything I've read said to boil the greens for THREE minutes, but I've decided to boil for two minutes b/c I strain out the hot water in a metal strainer before putting the greens in the icy water bowl.  By the time I've strained the piping hot greens, I figure it is about three minutes of it being super hot.  I don't want to overcook the greens.  I wish I could preserve the greens without having to cook them at all as I know I am losing some of the nutrients this way but see any other alternative.

After boiling the greens for two minutes I strain the greens thoroughly and then immerse in the icy cold bowl of water.

  

After the greens are totally cold I squeeze out the water and place on my cutting board.  I go through and double check for any caterpillars at this point as well.  Unfortunately, I have found some at this late stage!  The important thing is to find them and pull them out.

I try to roll out the greens into cylinders (like a stick of butter) and cut off the sections into 1/2 inch sections, then cut those circles in half and place on a cookie tray.

Frozen Greens.  I place the tray in the freezer and let it freeze overnight.  This way when I put the chunks in the freezer bag they will stay in individual chunks and I can easily pull out a chunk or so for my morning smoothies or soups.  I don't want a huge chunk of frozen greens!  Then I'd have to thaw out the whole bag just to get a cup of greens.  This has really been so helpful.  I also do this same thing when I am freezing my banana's.  I cut them into chunks, place on tray, freeze, then place in a freezer bag.  When I need a few chunks of banana I just pull out my bag, take out a few pieces and put the still frozen bag back in the freezer.

After 24 hours, give or take, I put the chunks in ziplock freezer bags, write what kind of green it is and put back in my freezer.

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Garden July 15-21, 2018

Garden 

July 15-21, 2018

A good garden week.  We are still staying ahead of the bugs and worms, so I preserved/froze two-gallon freezer bags of greens.  I'm trying to get as many greens frozen before the bugs arrive.

The blackberries have been turning red this week, not all, just a few to give me hope!

You can still see the damage from my experiment with homemade insecticidal soap, but the grapes seem to be doing fine with the loss of those leaves.

The grapes seem to be about the same size as last year, so I think the growing part is concluding, now for the riping stage! Then the eating time!!!

All the potatoes are doing super well.

The Burbank Russet bed, on the other side of the metal fence, which you might not be able to see, is another bed of a red potato variety.

Dd's corn is doing well.  I planted green bean seeds around each corn stalk and hope they can produce before frost.  

This bed, and the two to the right of it, are the beds we built in June.  They have various squash, cucumber, tomato and the Yukon Gold potatoes growing in them.  I'm not sure if they will have enough time to produce this year, but at least the beds will be ready to be planted in early next year.  Due to lots of deer, we put out things deer aren't known to eat---potatoes and squash plants.

Yay, the beans are producing!!

Yukon Gold potatoes

I finally found out what the bugs don't want to eat in this buggy bed---Marigold flowers and tomato plants.  Next year I will just plant those from the start and not waste so many spinach seeds.

The Peony that Giz and Grampy brought up a few weeks, in July, is still doing fine.  Last week when I was weeding the front flower garden I accidentally pulled up a Foxglove.  I've planted it beside the Peony so I'd be sure to give it extra water and attention.  

These are the blackberry transplants that I planted this spring in this spot.

Blackberry bushes, doing really well.

The kales are doing really well.

Swiss Chard

Rhutabega and Turnips

The Japanese Beetles have arrived.  I'm hunting them a few times a day now.  It's begun. Ugh.  I know I'll be fighting them the rest of the summer.  Typically, they only eat the grape leaves and the green bean leaves.

Tomatoes are beginning to turn red!  I bought canola oil this week to prepare for fried green tomatoes...yum.

Green beans, tomatoes, and lettuces

The spinach plants - I've left them in the bed so they could bolt and then I can collect the seeds for next year.

The herb garden is doing really well; especially the basil and asparagus.  I'm planning on making Basil Butter next week.

Mammoth Basil and Purple Basil

Tomatillos are really spreading out.  I finally looked up online how to grow them and just found out I was supposed to use a metal tomato frame to support each plant.  I hope the kale plants can provide the support they need.  

 This bed has a little of everything: Parsley, Carrots, Chives, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Chard, Lettuce, Marigolds, and Green Beans...

I moved one of our bird baths to the inside of this garden last week.  I read that birds will stick their beak's in veg to get a drink, ruining the veg, to prevent that from happening they suggest putting a bird bath near your garden.

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