Tag Archives: garden

Bell pepper relish – end of the summer crop

Leave a reply

So my bell peppers are now all finished. I had about 60 bell peppers (green and purple) to use. What can I do to store bell peppers??? I found a Sweet Bell Pepper Relish recipe which sounded interesting and went to work making it.

I plan on using the relish as Christmas gifts and also for ourselves as a condiment for meatloaf, pork and sandwiches.

Ingredients (taken from southern food about.com)

  • 20 large bell peppers, red, yellow, orange, green, stems and seeds removed, about 6 pounds
  • 1 1/2 pounds sweet onions
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt or pickling salt
  • 5 cups sugar
  • 2 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika, optional
Wash peppers and cut in large chunks; you’ll have about 6 pounds of chunks. Finely chop about 1/2 to 2/3 of the peppers. Grind or finely chop the remaining peppers using a food grinder or food processor. Coarsely chop about half of the onions and add the remaining onions to the grinder or food processor. Combine in a large bowl with the salt; toss to mix thoroughly. Cover with ice and let stand for 3 hours.Drain peppers, squeezing to get as much moisture out as possible. In a large nonreactive kettle, combine the vinegars, sugar, mustard seeds, and paprika, if using. Add the well drained pepper mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 50 to 60 minutes, until thickened. Stir occasionally.Meanwhile, fill a boiling water bath canner about half full. Add clean canning jars to the water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and keep jars warm.

In a saucepan, bring water to a simmer, turn to low and add the flat lids. Keep the lids in the hot water until ready to use.

When the pepper mixture is finished cooking, ladle into the hot drained jars. With a damp clean cloth, wipe the rims of the jars. Using tongs, lift lids from the water and let excess drip off of them; place on the clean jar rims. Screw on the jar rings firmly. Lift jars into the canner. Bring to a boil, cover, and boil gently for 10 minutes.

Makes about 5 to 6 pints.

Backyard Garden Design: Part 1

2 Replies

Over the last year we started redesigning and transforming our back yard.

In the beginning, we started with ripping out our old, enclosed deck which we thought was horrid. We really wanted to open the space so we designed a multi-level, completely open deck with only one side railing.

These photos show it almost completed – its missing the facing wood for the steps.

  

  

Next, I started a vegetable garden. It was an amazing experience I want to share. I am so proud of my garden, I love the nurturing aspect and the delectable results. First of we needed a space – I designed a raised bed garden keeping in mind that we might want to expand if this works.

  

How did we build them?
Dimensions: The garden beds were 4 feet  wide by 6 feet in length, which means the milt-layed bed is 8 feet wide by 6 feet in length.

Materials: We made them from pressure treated grade 2 timber – 4 inches x 6 inches. We used lag screws to connect the wood frame from the outside and we used metal plate connectors in the inside for stability. Garden fabric was laid down and then the soil was added. We did purchase top soil that had fertilizer in it.

Summer and Fall Vegetable Garden Planning

Leave a reply

One thing I have discovered in my first year of designing and growing a vegetable garden…..it is truly a science.

My summer garden has been very successful, surprisingly so, since I knew almost nothing going into this project.  I grew from seed cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, lettuce and corn in my main garden beds.

  

In two oval tin barrels, I grew the herbs again from seed…basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, oregano, and parsley.

Some lessons learned this summer:

  1. Plant zucchini, in the south, as early as you can (after frost though) – you are almost guaranteed to get vine borer in early July and lose your plants. I almost cried when it happened as my zucchini were in full production and rocked!!! You can also replant late summer but there is still a chance you may loose this to.
  2. Don’t waste your home garden space with corn. Mine grew great but for the yield it takes up a lot of room.
  3. Bell peppers, due to the very hot weather here in North Carolina tend to be late summer. Due to the cooler temperatures and the rain this past month, my bell peppers are taking off (they like 86 degrees F or below). I gave them more room once the lettuces finished and I removed the corn.
  4. You don’t need to grow 40 plants of each vegetable :-). I had extremely high yield from my seeds especially the tomatoes and bell peppers – almost all the seeds produced and I was only expecting about 1/3 to grow….we had some happy friends who now also have plants.

Late in the summer, the other thing we started was our own compost pile. What a great way to reduce on waste, we were already recycling and now this is a perfect compliment and a great learning opportunity for the family.

For my fall garden, which I am hoping to plant this weekend (delayed since I am recovering from surgery) I was able to plan it out much better. For example, did you know that there are companion plants?? These are plants that should be planted with each other as they complement each other and can ward of viruses etc. There are also plants you should never plant with others in your garden. So my plans are to grow the following:

  1. Replacing the tomatoes with cabbage and spinach
  2. Replacing the zucchini with broccoli and swiss chard
  3. And once the bell peppers ripen and finish I will add cauliflower and carrots. The cauliflower I can grow in seed starter trays and then transplant.

I am also expanding the garden to include another small bed. I am thinking of adding more fruits to the garden for next year as my son prefers them to vegetables; strawberries and rhubarb are definite (rhubarb can remain for up to 5 years so I need more room).

To finish off, I wanted to share some photos of the fruits of labour.