Sawyer's 2013 Glog - Last Harvest/First Sauce

WalkGood · Apr 27, 2013

Batten down dem hatches big storm coming soon … don’t forget to pack a bottle of rum to ride it out, hehehe! Nice save from the hail … have a great weekend …

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

JJJessee said:
Hope you don't get blown or washed away, Saw.
Looks like a lot of rain on our 10 day starting today, but I only see one day, next Fri night, a low of 41, too give me any concern. I may risk some tomatoes outside the hot bed, but we generally seem to be a little behind you. Our apples are a few days behind yours. Apples are really what got me started back into growing. Two autumns ago we made some cider with friends and (I had a carboy that turned out excellant) since we had such a mild winter last year I was able to get 17 trees in the ground in early February. All lived but one. I did fence them against deer. Mine are all about head high or a little better. I gave them a good trimming this Feb and some fertiliser I planted a King David too. .

Thanks, JJJ. Still raining here, so some folks may be getting washed away. I'll be alright as long as my root cellar sump pump keeps working, but at this rate, who knows when I'll be able to work the garden. I may have more plants in pots than I was anticipating. That's a lot of apple trees and an excellent first winter survival rate. I only have 4 eating apples plus 5 of the pie apples, but I'm seriously considering getting some rootstock and grafting my own trees. Haven't decided which one(s) yet. The quince I have makes a good semi-dwarfing rootstock for pears. Do you have a link to your cider recipe?

stickman said:
We have lots of Chokecherries here too. When I was a kid, my Grandmother used to make the most amazing apple/chokecherry jelly.

Maybe what I have isn't chokecherry, because I can't imagine anyone eating these things. Or maybe it's better processed into jelly.

WalkGood said:
Batten down dem hatches big storm coming soon … don’t forget to pack a bottle of rum to ride it out, hehehe! Nice save from the hail … have a great weekend …

Well, whatever happened last night, I slept right through it. Once the hatches are battened down as well as can be, there's no use worrying about things. I'll have to check the cabinet to see if I have any rum, but I know I've got beer, vodka, and whiskey, so should the urge strike, I've got it covered.

Devv · Apr 27, 2013

I'd love to see radar look like that here. It may tear things up some, but the good Earth sure does need it.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

I'd gladly trade you some of this rain for an earlier start to the growing season.

Stefan_W · Apr 27, 2013

I always love rain in the spring because it turns everything green in a hurry and washes away a lot of the crud that is left on the ground from the winter months. But, of course, there is a limit.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

I hear ya. We get so little snow, though, there isn't a lot of that crud to deal with here. As of this last rain, Beaver Lake is finally back up to normal pool of 1120', so for my money, we've reached the limit.

Devv · Apr 27, 2013

Sawyer said:
I'd gladly trade you some of this rain for an earlier start to the growing season.

Me too, but then you'd be done by the end of June like me, except for some peppers. Or starting a summer garden, but that hasn't really been worth it as the bugs just demolish everything.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

I do like the ability to grow four seasons here, but it's a lot of work and there are limits as to what can be grown each season, obviously. (No year-round peppers, sadly.)

Edit: Actually, I'm going to work on that year-round pepper thing. I kept 7 of 7 OWs alive this past winter, and that was with a bare minimum of effort and knowledge.

Devv · Apr 27, 2013

I hear ya about a lot of work, I've had stuff planted continuously for the last 36 months. Gonna take the late summer off except for some vine crops which do better flowering in the early fall. In addition I need to add mucho amendments to the garden after this grow. After the next rain I'm going to haul some clay out of the tank that won't hold water and see what 5 yds. of compost will cost.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

Something funky going on with the "likes" today. First I was out, then I wasn't, then I was, then wasn't, now am again.

Dshlogg · Apr 27, 2013

" Maybe what I have isn't chokecherry, because I can't imagine anyone eating these things. Or maybe it's better processed into jelly."

Easiest way to quote a section of a post on my phone.

They sound like choke cherries. They are bitter as hell but if you ad enough sugar you can make jam. I also heard of a choke cherry and crab apple jelly that's supposed to be really good. Only wild fruit we ever used in abundance were blackberries and mulberries. They make a mean pie. In the mountains here you can find blueberries and raspberries but you gotta hike for them. One of life's great pleasures is eating wild blueberries and raspberries with your breakfast when camping. Deelishhh.

JJJessee · Apr 27, 2013

Saw, that cider recipe is pretty simple, We put a 6 gallon carboy up to the shoulder with fresh pressed apple juice and treat it for 24 hr with camden tabs to rid it of wild yeast. We use a hydrometer and add a little dissolved sugar in pure water to get it at least to 1.055 specific gravity. Use a little of the treated juice to pitch EC-118 yeast and add it to the carboy, cap with a fermentation lock, keep at room temp for at least 5 months wrapped in a towel or in the dark. When it is a crystal, clear amber color, I siphoned into a cornie keg and carbonated it, but I was delicious just cold and flat.

I saved some of my fruit wood trimming to graft but don't know if there are enough days in the month to get to that.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

I may have to try something with the chokecherries this year; looks like I'll have a few of them. I have lots of blackberry vines here and a few fruit-bearing mulberry trees. The mulberries are a real hit with the wildlife, birds, squirrels, purple-beaked box turtles. I've got a freezer full of blackberries I should do something with before the new crop comes in. Maybe try wine again. I have a row of blueberries running along side the apple trees. I used to have some raspberries, but the more-vigorous blackberries crowded them out. I hear you about the wild berries and camping. Where I go backpacking in Wyoming, there are a few raspberry bushes along the trail. A couple of those berries work wonders on a parched mouth. And the stream near where I camp is lined with blueberries. When I used to cook, they made the best pancakes ever. Now I just eat food bars and Mountain House ProPaks and eat the blueberries fresh or make blueberry mountain screwdrivers (fresh smashed blueberries, Tang, and grain alcohol).

JJJ, thanks for the info. That sounds delicious. I couldn't find my hydrometer last time I looked. I know I still have it, so I have to look again. BTW, what did you fertilize your trees with?

JJJessee said:
I saved some of my fruit wood trimming to graft but don't know if there are enough days in the month to get to that.

Days in the month, months in the year, nor hours in the day.

stickman · Apr 27, 2013

Sawyer said:
Maybe what I have isn't chokecherry, because I can't imagine anyone eating these things. Or maybe it's better processed into jelly.

If it's a really sour and "puckery" cherry about the size of a pencil eraser and purplish-black in color, it's the same fruit. There's a fair amount of sugar in the jelly to make it palatable, but use just enough to "iron out the rough spots" because that's when it tastes best.

JJJessee · Apr 27, 2013

Sawyer said:
.... Now I just eat food bars and Mountain House ProPaks and eat the blueberries fresh or make blueberry mountain screwdrivers (fresh smashed blueberries, Tang, and grain alcohol).

JJJ, thanks for the info. That sounds delicious. I couldn't find my hydrometer last time I looked. I know I still have it, so I have to look again. BTW, what did you fertilize your trees with?

Days in the month, months in the year, nor hours in the day.

That sounds like a potent screwdriver.

I was just some leftover Plantone organic shub-tree-whatever stuff I'd had for a while.

Sawyer · Apr 27, 2013

stickman said:
If it's a really sour and "puckery" cherry about the size of a pencil eraser and purplish-black in color, it's the same fruit. There's a fair amount of sugar in the jelly to make it palatable, but use just enough to "iron out the rough spots" because that's when it tastes best.

I guess that's what it must be, Rick; I certainly haven't found anything else that comes close. The thing that still bothers me is that the blooms are in more of a loose umbel than the tight raceme most photos show.

JJJessee said:
That sounds like a potent screwdriver.

I was just some leftover Plantone organic shub-tree-whatever stuff I'd had for a while.

It is, JJJ. There have been times I would have been easy pickings had a hungry bear (or cougar, or pack of coyotes) come along. I'll probably be less careless next time I go, since I think the grizzlies have moved into the area. Thanks for the info on fertilizer. I've got some old tree tabs somewhere that I'll use, plus some supplemental triple 13.

To bring all this back to peppers, before I get called out for straying off topic for too long, I received some Gourmet Jigsaw seeds today from DesertChris. Thanks, Chris! I also received some Red, Orange, and Yellow Manzanos from Trade Winds Fruit. Finally, I've ordered (shipped, but not yet received) Carolina Reaper seeds from three different sources, Puckerbutt, PepperJoe, and Refining Fire Chiles. I know it's late for getting any pods this year, but these will be mostly in pots and I'm going to make more room for over-wintering. And who knows, I think it was November before we had a hard frost last year. In any case, it'll be an interesting side by side comparison.

Sawyer · Apr 28, 2013

All the 3.5" potted plants are outside sunning themselves today. I'm sure I'll get some sunburn, given the erratic nature of the hardening-off process so far, but I need to accelerate the process. My indoor space is overflowing with flats and I have more to plant.

It's far too wet to do much outside today. I can't even walk across the front yard without sinking in, much less the garden. The back yard is a little firmer, so I should be able to do some more up-potting.

Earlier this morning, the forecast was predicting a low next Friday morning of 28ºF, but now they've changed it to 39ºF. I'll worry about that when it gets here. In the meantime, the highs are going to be in the 70s and 80s with no rain 'til Thursday, so that should dry things out in a hurry.

GA Growhead · Apr 28, 2013

I like that forecast!

annie57 · Apr 28, 2013

Arksaw . . . ya betta not send a dang cold front end next week to us!

Actually, checked your weather and while none of them can be right that far out, some cold air jet stream from Canada predicted by Madame Zoe headed in your direction end of next week. But . . . they can't predict that far . . . One day at a time, as you said, more or less. I empathize on the wet, soggy, cool to imo, cold (comparably), crap and yet, so far, SO FAR, it's not been the "tidal-wave" they called for here. Plenty of time left for that. I'm sorry about the weather, hon. There's no emotion for a primal scream on weather.

Sawyer · Apr 29, 2013

GA Growhead said:
I like that forecast!

Me too, GA. It was great today, up into the 80s and not a cloud in the sky. I killed some weakling plants with the accelerated hardening off, but I have plenty of extras.

annie57 said:
Arksaw . . . ya betta not send a dang cold front end next week to us! Actually, checked your weather and while none of them can be right that far out, some cold air jet stream from Canada predicted by Madame Zoe headed in your direction end of next week. But . . . they can't predict that far . . . One day at a time, as you said, more or less. I empathize on the wet, soggy, cool to imo, cold (comparably), crap and yet, so far, SO FAR, it's not been the "tidal-wave" they called for here. Plenty of time left for that. I'm sorry about the weather, hon. There's no emotion for a primal scream on weather.

Hey, Annie, yeah, today was great and it's looking pretty good through Wednesday, but they're predicting freezing temperatures for Saturday and Sunday mornings. We had some really good drying today, so I hope to work the garden tomorrow and Wednesday before the next round of rain.

I was moving some stuff around outside today and knocked a whole flat of 3.5" pots off its 3' high perch; 18 pots went flying. Every single one lost at least some soil and a few plants fell out completely. I got them all replanted; not a single stem was broken and every plastic label remained with its plant.

So I'm going to have to cut back on my THP time for a few weeks. I'll update my own glog when something significant happens and I'll respond to posts in it and PMs, but I'm not going to be able to keep up with everyone else's as much as I would like. I accepted three consulting jobs that will culminate in a week-long meeting in D.C. later in the month. On top of that, I agreed to review a journal paper and that's due by the 13th. I had hoped to work full time in the garden through May. I guess I still can; I'll just have a full time second shift job, too.

Later.