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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-04-22, Page 44a i You can enjoy your garden all year round :If you store yourwegqtables properly, y'ou 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 arid- 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 mbefo_re 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 fond from spoiling because micro-organisms can not grow at temperatures below zero degrees Celsius. Select fresh; tender vegetables of good quality. Use recomthended-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_ typeof vegetable or consult the Ontario Ministry -of Agriculture and -Food's Publica- $ tion 504, "Frozen Foods" available at your local ministry office). - • . Cdolimmediately in cold water. Package in air-tightoireezer 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"). Tomatoes ma y b t d juiced or s ew-e or utce , r canned as chili sauce, chutney o: (ketchup. Cucumbers, onions, beets, carrots and cauliflower may -be pickled sweet ordilled, separately oras a`medley. Yellow beans; cucumbers antl 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- l -naiades 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 degreesC 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 .willbe unfit for use. When the potatoes are dry, store them in a - bin or in a sack, box or basket - "Make sure you store onl}` the sound ones because a diseased potato will affect all the rest," she says. Carrots may be -packed in damp sand t or in your specially -prepared soil mix ) in bar- rels orpails 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 spreadthem 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 ti of harvest for fit can be shortenedsignificantlyg 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 fourto 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 ari 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. --CLIP y SA E Page 17 0,,; RDEN SHOW®STO'• PER! WITH THIS COUPON cN THE . ST L(j LAT 7= N F A CULLDOiGillN N K U N G ATE SYSTEM. That $ vont' Present this coupon to those • softies your Culligan Man at The Goder.ch Home& Garden Show iApril 24 25. & 26) and have your rental drinking water system nstalled for only one dollar, Thais a savings of $9900' See You At The Home & Garden Show! 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