While he was here, my sweetie made us five nice raised beds in our new house garden. Into each one, he dumped at least a wheelbarrow and half of rotted manure from the donkey pen. This was well mixed in with the black dirt we filled the beds with, then topped with six inches of more black dirt.

This spring, I planted a dozen broccoli plants; the aphids got the rest. Six, I planted in the raised beds. The other six, I planted in a new section of our main garden. The six in the raised beds kind of kept up with the ones down in the garden for a few weeks, then WOW! they shot up. And up. And up. Now they look like something from prehistoric times.

The ones down in the garden didn’t get any manure, so I’m sure that had something to do with it, too, but just look how the plants like the loose soil and manure in the raised beds. I guess I’ve become a believer! Nifty! Just wait till next year.

Readers’ questions:

Gardening in tires

My wife and I have been a subscriber to Backwoods home since the early 90’s. We have been a fan of yours since we first read one of your articles in Backwoods Home Magazine. You have helped us and taught us a lot over the years. We garden and raise animals on our little spot overlooking the Mississippi River. You have taught us to raise, can, store, prepare and survive. For this I just wanted to say Thanks. Four years ago our tiller threw a rod. Spring came and we wanted a garden so I tried something a little different, and I thought you might get a kick out of our garden. If you get a chance you can see it at www.redneckgarden.sampasite.com. Again, thanks for all you do.

Dale McPherson
Drummonds, Tennessee

Wow, Dale. Good idea. My friends, Jim and Jeri Bonnette also garden in tires. It’s a good way to go for a lot of crops. I loved your pictures! What are the bricks for in the tires? I’m nosy. And I can always learn. — Jackie

Steam in pressure gauge

Two questions. I just got a new All American Pressure canner. Is it normal for the pressure gauge to fill with steam & water droplets? Also, when canning meat like meatballs do you need to add liquid? Or would they dry out? I just did a batch of my homemade meat sauce & had no blowouts they look wonderful…can you tell I’m so excited? My MRE collection is growing. Glad the hail missed you! May fair weather bless your season!

Tracey Morris
Prunedale, California

No, the pressure gauge doesn’t usually have steam and water drops in it; I’d call the company customer relations department. The steam will probably warp the insert with the pressure numbers on it and maybe rust the dial. I’d sure check. They may send you a new gauge; they just screw on and off easily with a wrench.

When I can meatballs, I add a sauce. So far, I’ve added spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce with green pepper slices and cream of mushroom soup (without the milk, but with added water so it’s liquid). All of these turned out absolutely great! I’ve been canning for over forty years and I’m STILL excited about it! I’m glad you’ve gotten off to a great start. — Jackie

Home canning book

I know it’s not as if you don’t have millions of other things to do, but how about adding one more and put together a home canning recipe book for all us canning enthusiasts. You cover so many more things than the Ball Blue Book.

Melodee Brymer
Hearne, Texas

I’ve been giving it some thought. But you’re right; I’ve got a whole lot to do and with David either working or in school, I’m the Indian and the chief…just not much time for great projects. Winter’s coming, and maybe I’ll have a little more time. It may happen! — Jackie

Pruning cucumber vines

I have cukes plant going all over the place. Would I hurt the plant if I trim some of the vines from it?

Hollis Jones
WiIlmington, Delaware

Don’t overdo the pruning of the vines. This sometimes is okay, but sometimes the plants resent pruning and quit bearing. Instead, gently pick up the vines and lay them in a direction you want them to head. I always trellis mine because of this natural tendency. That way I can raise many more cukes in an area than I could otherwise…and I don’t have to wade through vines. It’s also much easier to see the cukes so you don’t end up with boats. — Jackie

Blackberry pie filling

My question is about blackberry pie filling I just canned (water bath). The jars seemed to have leaked some of the contents, but they are sealed really well. I removed the bands and cleaned the jars well. Do you think there is any problem with this? I have more blackberries than I know what to do with & I am running out of freezer space. Also, any other suggestions of what to do with all these berries besides jelly or jam? Thanks for your help!

Lori Hinkle
Dongola, Illinois

No, Lori, you don’t have a problem with them losing liquid out of the jars. This is a common thing, but it usually happens during pressure canning. It may just be that the blackberries packed down during canning; they are kind of easy to squash. This makes the contents of the jar seem less. You can also dehydrate blackberries. This way you can keep them on the shelf in a small container. You can use these in muffins, sauces, sweet roll filling, tarts, on ice cream and yogurt. If that doesn’t solve your problem, send ‘em to me! Sounds like you’ve got a bounty this year. Good for you! — Jackie

Cats in the garden

My wife and I have been a fan for years. We are having a problem with cats. They are using the front garden as a toilet and we would like to do something other than picking them off with the twenty two. We are in a transition stage and I cant get to my back issues and I know I saw something about cats and keeping them out of the garden. After some research I found… Keeping cats out of the garden by Tom R. Kovach, but like I said I can’t get at my back issues. Thanks and keep the great articles coming. Yours are the first I read.

Marty Connelly
Auburn , New York

Sorry you are having kitty problems. Mom’s cat, Monty, was trying to use my nice new raised beds that Will built for me as a cat box. Of course they were very inviting, but I didn’t want cat poop in my carrot bed! Yuck! So I just ran scrap 3′ fence around the whole thing, enclosing all five beds and our new pea/strawberry bed. No more cat problems and Monty now uses the sand down the hill. A much better choice! I’ve tried different things, but the fence works best. You can use the cheap plastic fencing for cats; they really don’t challenge it like varmints do. Good luck. — Jackie

Storing raisins

I found many boxes of raisins on sale. Can I can them? If not what is the best way to put them up?

Elizabeth Walker
Adel, Georgia

Luckily raisins are just dehydrated grapes. So they will stay fine, in the bag, for over a year. I’ve had some that I bought in 2000 and they are still great. I put my on sale raisins, still in the bag, in my big popcorn tins. This keeps out possible rodent problems and keeps them handy. — Jackie

Rounded cucumbers

My cucumbers started growing great, but now they are starting to have a rounder shape or some are round on bottom and they have a pointy tip on them. Why?

Carrie Coomer
charlestown, Indiana

This is usually from stress. This time of the year, it’s usually a combination heat and insufficient water. Cukes are a high percentage of water, themselves, so the vines need abundant water in order to make nice long, filled out cucumbers. Try mulching them, giving them a side dressing of rotted manure, then keep them watered. And stand back. — Jackie

Saving squash seeds

I have planted heirloom seeds for squash and melons. How do I get seeds from the current crop to use another year? How long does the fruit need to remain on the plants in order to harvest? The zucchini are BIG and solid, not many seeds when picked to eat.

Donald Allen
Afton, Texas

It’s easy to save seeds from squash and melons. All you do is let the fruits mature well. For melons and winter squash, this only means to pick them when they are very ripe; the seeds are ready then. Pick them out, put them on a pie pan in a dry area away from rodents and swish your hand around in them once a day until they are very dry. Your summer squash need to mature past where you would normally eat them. This means letting them get huge. Then the skins get a little hard, like winter squash. Pick them before they start to rot, though. Once you get into seed saving, you’ll really have fun….and save a bunch of money, too. — Jackie

Our carpenter friend, Tom, was here yesterday, working on our latest addition to the house, which will be a living room and entryway, including a small laundry room. It looked stormy all evening, but as he was packing to leave, we walked out of the house and saw REAL scary looking clouds just east of us. There was one ugly green one that dropped a big white cylinder-shaped cloud that called our attention. There was actually rotation to it and the outside kept pulling up into the cloud above.

We looked north, toward Cook, and saw big black clouds with plenty of lightening and two big white sheets of precipitation dropping toward the ground; hail! Hail: the gardener’s dreaded enemy, right behind frost.

Would we get sucked up in a tornado? Or would our garden get wiped out by hail? I turned on the weather radio to keep track of the storm. We continued to watch our tornado in the making thing; it was heading slowly to the south. Tom left and I did chores, keeping an eye on both storms.

Later on I heard that there WAS a tornado, or several of them. One was 15 miles away at Sand Lake and the other about the same distance south of us at Buhl. Neither did any damage, fortunately. There was also hail, but we didn’t get any of that, either. This time! Whew! Sometimes Mother Nature is sweet and gentle, but sometimes, she plays hard and for keeps. It’s the challenge that keeps us on our toes, I think.

Readers’ questions:

Canning meat

I have started canning for the first time. Yesterday, I canned deboned chicken in my new pressure canner. It looks like two of my jars leaked some liquid during the processing, but the lids look like they’re tightly sealed. However, about a half inch of meat at the top is not covered with liquid. Is this okay or do I need to add more liquid and reprocess? I also read where you can your own ground meat. Do you add liquid to it after packing it in the jar? If so, what kind of liquid?

Pam Dietz
Eunice, Louisiana

Congratulations, Pam, good job! No worries on the chicken. It’s quite common for some foods to exhaust liquid out of the jar during pressure canning. This happens most often with meats that are processed for quite a while. The chicken is fine; no need to do anything. Yes, I can ground beef. Some I just brown and pack into jars and squish down. I add no liquid. Some, I can with tomato sauce, seasoned for spaghetti sauce. Other times, I add taco seasonings for instant taco filling. But there is no need to add liquid. I do add a bit of water to plain browned hamburger and pack that with it, but I never pour water or broth on it in the jar. — Jackie

Canned bacon

In the current issue someone asked about canned bacon. I found a site that sells some precooked and canned bacon but they only sell by the case. mredepot.com is the site. hope that helps.

Jerald Lupinek
Wasco, California

Thanks for the information; I passed it on to BHM a couple of weeks ago, but some readers may have missed it and will appreciate your tip. Thanks! — Jackie

Gardening in the desert

I just recently subscribed to BHM and love it. I have been reading off the website for months. My question is this: We live smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I would love to have a small garden but have had a hard time growing things. When your summers start in May at 90 degrees and last all the way till October with plenty of days that are 113 or higher causing some of your tomatoes to actually cook on the vine it gets frustrating. What do you do? Thankfully we will be moving to middle Tennessee within the next two years. But in the mean time, any suggestions?

Johanna Labiosa
Ridgecrest, California

Your best bet is to plant where there is shade, at least part of the afternoon. For instance, try on the north side of your house or another outbuilding. If this is not possible, build a rustic shade arbor (4 posts and cross poles on top) over the plants. You want some sun, but shade, too to moderate the sun’s rays. Drip irrigation helps ensure that the roots stay cooler and the plant gets enough water without wet leaves to “cook” the plant. Work in as much organic material under your plants as you can, before you plant, then pile a thick mulch over your drip lines and all around your plants. This also helps moderate the temperature on the roots, keep moisture from evaporating and cuts down your weed problems. — Jackie

Canning summer squash

My husband and I are new subscribers to Backwoods Home Magazine. We’re learning a lot from the magazine and your articles. This summer we have an abundance of yellow squash. We like to cook it in stir frys and smother it with onions and butter. Is there any way of storing or preserving this vegetable that we love so much? I’ve heard that yellow squash should not be canned. Is this true? I would greatly appreciate your input.

Pam Dietz
Eunice, Louisiana

Summer squash CAN be home canned, but you probably wouldn’t like the product; I don’t. My friend, Jeri, slices summer squash onto a cookie sheet and quick freezes it in her freezer. Then she pours it into freezer bags to use in her stir frys. She said it works well this way. Maybe you’d like to try that. — Jackie

Hulling buckwheat

In a previous issue you answered a question about hulling buckwheat. Unfortunately, that issue 105 is not in the archives and I cannot find mine. Could you please answer the question of is there a way to hull buckwheat on a small scale? All of the machinery I can find on line is for large commercial hulling.

J. Michael Ledbetter
Jamestown, Tennessee

Sorry, but you can’t hull buckwheat effectively at home. I just grind mine, hull and all when I add it to multi-grain bread. This wouldn’t probably work for buckwheat pancakes, etc. as there’s a lot of fiber. — Jackie

Floating tomatoes

HELP! I just canned 4 quarts of home grown tomatoes but the water in the canner had a tomato smell to it like some of the tomato came out during processing. I processed at 6 lbs for 40 minutes. All the seals were good but all the tomato is at the top of the jar and the liquid is at the bottom. I’m going to eat these even if it kills me (I hope not). Boy that was alot of work if it all goes bad, but I really want to learn this art.

Stephen Joseph
Denison, Texas

You don’t have as much of a problem as you think. It’s common for some tomato juice to blow out of the jars during canning, especially during pressure canning. As long as the seals are fine, you’re good to go. If you hot pack your tomatoes, they won’t float to the top like yours did. This happens when you put cold tomatoes in the jars, then either squash them to make juice to cover or pour boiling water over them. If you first heat the tomatoes and juice to boiling, ladle them into the jars and process, they won’t float. Floating tomatoes are perfectly fine, just not beautiful. Enjoy. — Jackie

Canning bacon grease

My son thinks bacon is it’s own “food group,” and we always have tons of bacon grease around. I am trying desperately to keep from freezing anything that isn’t vital, as our freezers are getting very old and we are VERY rural, and prone to power outages in the winter. We have a generator, but at the cost of propane, I hate to use it to run a bunch of freezers. So, can you pressure bacon grease? If so, for how long?

Patricia Crowder
Holyoke, Colorado

I honestly have never tried to can bacon grease. But if I did, I’d pour melted grease into pint or half pint jars and process them at 10 pounds for 75 minutes in a pressure canner (bacon grease is from meat). I’ve canned butter and it canned up fine, even though it was greasy, so maybe bacon grease would too. Let me know. — Jackie