HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1987-04-15, Page 43You can enj oy your
garden all year round
If you store your vegetables properly, you
can enjoy the good things from your garden
from one summer - right through to the
next, say Betty Lambert of RR 5, Guelph,
Ont., a past president of the Guelph
Township Horticultural Society and a
grower, exhibitor and judge of vegetables.
Try drying vegetables like kidney, lima
and navy beans as well as peas.
Leave them to mature and dry in the
garden. Gather them before they begin to
shell.
Shell them, make sure they are
thoroughly dry, and then store them in
covered glass jars.
Use them with other vegetables or meats
when you prepare casseroles, baked beans
or chili con carne.
You may also freeze most vegetables - ex-
cept for those that would lose their crispness
such as cucumbers, lettuce and radishes.
Freezing protects food from spoiling
because micro-organisms can not grow at
temperatures below zero degrees Celsius.
Select fresh, tender vegetables of good
quality.
Use recommended varieties and prepare
as for table use. .
Blanch to kill the enzymes that could
cause the vegetables to deteriorate during
storage.
(Check a cookbook or cooking chart for
the length of time it takes to blanch each
type of vegetable or consult the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food's Publica-
tion 504, "Frozen Foods" available at your
local ministry office).
Cool immediately in cold water.
Package in air -tight freezer bags and
label with amount and date.
Squash and pumpkin may be cooked as for
serving, but omit the seasoning.
Then package and freeze.
Tomatoes may be canned, instead of
frozen.
Canning is a method of preservation that
consists of heating sterilized food in an air-
tight container.
(Consult the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Publication 468
"Home Canning" 1.
Tomatoes may be stewed or juiced:or
canned as' chili sauce, chutney or ketchup.
Cucumbers, onions, beets, carrots and
cauliflower may be pickled sweet or dilled,
separately or as a medley.
Yellow beans, cucumbers and onions may
be preserved in mustard sauce too.
Many relishes are made with cucumbers,
peppers, onions, beets, and corn.
Sauerkraut is an excellent way to store
cabbage.
Green tomatoes are a good base for
mincemeat.
For the sweet tooth, preserves and mar-
malades may be made from citron,pumpkin
and some melons.
Store root vegetables in a cool, dark,frost-
free place.
A winter storage temperature of four
degrees C to five degrees C is best, she says.
When storing potatoes, make sure they
are not exposed to the Light for more than a
few hours or their skins will turn green and
the potatoes will be unfit for use.
When the potatoes are dry, store them in a
bin or in a sack, box or basket. •
"Make sure you store only the sound ones
because a diseased potato will affect all the
rest," she says.
Carrots may be packed in damp sand 1 or
in your specially -prepared soil mixt in bar-
rels or pails to prevent the carrots from dry-
ing out.
Store turnip and beets the same way.
Late, firm cabbages may be stored in a
cool place, either hung up by their stems or
wrapped loosely in waxed paper or plastic
and then placed on shelves.
Squash will also store well on a shelf or
rack in a cool place ( about 10 degrees C ). .
Onions need careful treatment to avoid
sprouting or spoiling.
In August, when the onions' growth is
nearly complete, draw some soil away from
them to expose them to air and to allow the
sun to ripen them.
When the leaves begin to yellow, bend
them down to dry the neck of the onion.
Once the leaves have died, lift the onions
and spread them in a warm, airy, dry place
for several days.
Then remove soil and excess skins and
then store in a mesh bag or spread them on
wooden flats.
The time of harvest for fruit
can be shortened significantly
If you are a fruit lover and have a new ap-
ple or pear tree in your yard, you know the
frustration of waiting an average of four to
five years before you can harvest signifi-
cant amounts of fruit.
"The time to harvest can be shortened to
three years by "limb spreading" — forcing
the limbs of trees to grow at a wider angle
than they would normally," says Hor-
ticulturist Ruth Friendship of the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food's rural
organizations and services branch.
Limb spreading can be performed on
plants of any age ( the earlier the better) and
at any time, although spring is the best time
to do it.
Limb spreading will increase the amount
of light intercepted by the plant and affects
the plant's growth hormones, resulting in
earlier flowering.
Some commercial producers practise this
technique in order to receive faster returns
on their investments. Others shy away from
it because of the expense and time involved
in a large-scale operation.
But home gardeners, with only a few
trees, should be able to use this concept,
Friendship says.
Basically, limb spreading involves wedg-
ing wooden spreaders between the main
trunk and the limbs.
This is necessary because most apple and
pear varities have an upright pattern of
growth.
Fruit bud formation has been found to oc-
cur much sooner on a limb growing in a
horizontal position — rather than on an
upright limb.
A 60 degree angle from the horizontal is
recommended and can be achieved with two
centimetre square wooden blocks, cut to
various lengths.
Cut notches into each end to fit the branch
or drive a five cm long nail about halfway
into each end of the spreader.
File the head of the nail to a sharp point
and then push the nail into the bark of the
tree.
Or you could use heavy gauge wire — in-
stead of wooden blocks — to hold the bran-
ches in place.
On very young shoots that are less than 10
cm to 20 cm in diameter, use toothpicks or
clothespins to hold the shoots in place.
But avoid splitting the tree trunk when
bending the shoots; place one hand under
the shoot where it meets the trunk to provide
support.
Page 17
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