QandA: Planting potatoes, Gnat invasion, and New to pressure canning

Planting potatoes

I was told by an elderly neighbor that I can not plant my tomatoes in the same place that I had potatoes last year. The potatoes did fine, no blight or problems last year. I know that they are the same “family,” but will I have problems if I do plant them there anyway?

Theresa VanLeeuwen
Coos Bay, Oregon

It’s best not to plant potatoes where you had tomatoes the year before and vice versa. While you may have had no disease problems in the past, you can get them doing this. If you don’t have another place, go ahead and plant, switching the tomatoes and potatoes, as there are some diseases that are more common in one and not the other. In the fall, pull and burn all of your spent vines to lessen the spread of disease and insect pests. If you do have another spot, it’s best to alternate tomatoes with another crop, say beans or corn, and the same with your potatoes. — Jackie

Gnat invasion

We built a small hoop house hotbed (12’x6′) with horse manure on the bottom 6 inches. Plants are germinating, but there are a lot of gnats coming up out of the manure and they really like my seedlings. It’s too cold to set plantings out yet. I’m in Elk, Washington about 10 miles east of the Idaho border and about 20 miles north of Spokane, Washington. I sprayed with malathion which helped, but they are still evolving. It’s still too cold to compost the manure.

Mari Ashworth
Elk, Washington

Did you cover your green horse manure with at least a foot of soil? Usually if you do this, the manure heats so well that it kills any little buggers in it and thus, you don’t get a gnat invasion. Instead of malathion, you might switch to Safer insecticidal spray. It’s a natural product and won’t make your plants — and you — glow in the dark. But it is quite effective for killing aphids and gnats if you repeat it every few days while the “bugs” are emerging. — Jackie

New to pressure canning

…I just received a pressure canner from my hubbie, and have a few questions before using it. It says to put boiling water into up to a certain line…is that before or after the plate and jars are in? the manual wasn’t that clear. Also I have bags of frozen tomato basil soup, cream of mushroom soup, and 6lb cans of black beans, garbanzo beans (my hubbie finds these at auctions for cheap) that I would like to re-can into quart jars. I found times and pressures for mushroom gravy but not soup, but what do you suggest for the above items. I also saw for black beans it was for 90min at 12lbs…is that correct? Anyhow, I am VERY nervous about using the canner, yet looking forward to trying it out. Hoping that I won’t have to repaint my kitchen when I am done. Thanks again for all the advice.

Oh by the way, with all this cool weather we have been having (I am in St. Paul,MN) do you think it is too early to put in peas, beets, and carrots yet? I am thinking they are cool weather crops and in a week or so it should be staying warmer. Any how thanks again, and if you ever feel need to give a class on pressure canning sign me up!

Lisa Basso
St. Paul, Minnesota

Put the water into your canner before you put your jars in; the bottom plate/rack doesn’t matter. I usually put that in, then add water.

Canning times for your recipes really could vary with the ingredients. For instance, if your tomato basil soup only has tomatoes, basil, and spices, it would be processed in a boiling water bath canner for 45 minutes. If it had other vegetables or meat, it would be pressure canned for a time depending on the longest time required for any one ingredient…usually a vegetable or meat (if included). Likewise with the cream of mushroom soup. If it is only mushrooms, water, and flour or cornstarch, you would be adding only enough water to make it a thinner product than condensed soup and processing as if it were mushroom gravy. But if it has milk or cream in it, I probably wouldn’t can it as sometimes these ingredients in a “cream of” soup will take on a curdled appearance that most folks do not like.

Because your big cans of garbanzo and black beans are already cooked and have been canned, you can use the “hurry-up” method in my canning book, only heating the beans to boiling, then packing hot in hot jars. Quarts can be processed for 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, be sure to consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary.

I PROMISE you won’t have to repaint or clean your kitchen after canning! Just follow the directions and everything will come out perfectly. Most folks have had trouble with old pressure canners (without safety devices now found on all canners) when they left the canner unattended and went out of the room for lengthy times. The canner continued to heat and the pressure rose, sometimes forcing small pieces of food, blown out of the jars by the too-high pressure, into the exhaust petcock. By plugging the petcock, the canner could not release any steam and the canner blew its lid! It’s like making French fries in hot grease and leaving them on the stove and going outside to water the lawn. There are some things you just don’t do! Have fun and tell me how your first batch turns out!

I haven’t planted any carrots or peas, but I am planting lettuce tomorrow. Even though carrots and peas like cool weather, you’re right, we have had a real cool, wet spring and I’m waiting for a little warmer weather. You ARE about two weeks ahead of us, weather-wise, so it shouldn’t be too long before you’re planting your earliest crops. — Jackie