Green tomatoes
Jackie, I am sorry to hear about your frost! I see all your tomatoes are red, ours here in New Mexico are all GREEN still! Is there anything I can do to get them to ripen on the vine? It is 70s day and down to 50s at night.
Natalie
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Sorry, but you’ll just have to wait. They will ripen when they’re ready. If it threatens to freeze you can pick them green and pack them in the house in buckets and boxes to ripen there. Don’t put green tomatoes in the sun or they’ll promptly rot! We’re facing another frost and we may go ahead and pick all the tomatoes we can to ripen inside. I don’t want to chance them freezing and going to the pigs! — Jackie
Elderberries
I found several patches of elderberries growing near me this year. I had seen several recipes for elderberries, and thought they would make a nice syrup for pancakes etc. However as I began to do some research for a recipe I noticed that just about everything I read was about it’s medicinal uses and to take it by tablespoons as needed. There were also several conflicting articles about whether or not to give elderberry syrup to children. I have two small boys ages 3 and 5. Now I am concerned. Is elderberry syrup safe to eat as a syrup for pancakes etc. and is it safe to allow my children to eat it? Should I just keep the syrup I made to use medicinally?
Jess
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Generally, the medicinal elderberry syrup has been simmered down for lengthy times and concentrated. Plain old elderberry syrup, made by just simmering the berries until soft, then draining the juice off in a jelly bag and adding sugar, is fine for family pancakes and other uses. I’ve used it for years and my son, David, has enjoyed it on his pancakes from the time he could first eat them. He’s now almost 6 feet tall and as healthy as a horse. — Jackie
Damping off
I’m trying to grow my big onions from seed but don’t know if I’m going about it right. I planted seed in my seed mix, then after about 2 weeks transplanted the small green plants into my regular potting soil, but they look almost wilted. They’re well watered. How do you plant yours and when do you transplant into other pots?
Betty
Covington, Georgia
Make sure they aren’t too well watered. Often this causes fungal diseases, such as damping off, and your plants will die. I usually wait until my plants are quite a bit older than two weeks old before transplanting them. They are a lot stockier then and easier to take the shock of being transplanted. I plant my onion seed carefully in rows in quite deep planting containers, so the seeds are about 1/8-inch apart. This lets them grow strong. If they get too leggy, I often trim off the tops of the plants with scissors. Be sure they get plenty of light, but don’t fry them in direct southern exposure. When I finally set my plants out, they’re pretty strong and fairly big — sort of like chives-like leaves, a few inches tall. Be sure to set them out on a cloudy, fairly cool day with little wind after hardening them off for a week or so. — Jackie
Thank you Jackie.
That’s a no brainer for me then. :)
That’s not lazy, that’s working Smart.
If I can get the same results without the individual wrapping of the tomatoes, then that’s what we’ll do.
Much appreciated.
btw…Awesome peppers and potatoes!
James,
We just pick our tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets and gently pour them into boxes or plastic totes…not too deep so they don’t mash the bottom ones. They ripen evenly and nicely with no wrapping. It’s so much less work; I used to wrap them years back, but got lazy. I don’t mind working, but if I don’t have to do so much, I don’t mind….
Jackie
I had a LOT of green tomatoes that had to be picked last year. I simply laid them out on the counter and in shallow bowls/pans and let them ripen, no wrapping, in just ordinary light (away from the window) in the kitchen. We had fresh, red tomatoes for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Green tomatoes make great salsa as well. It’s alittle like pickling but tastes wonderful with chips…google ‘green tomato salsa’ and you should fine a good recipe. If not, I can submit the one I have. Good luck and here’s to you having your tomatoes turn red.
Hi Jackie,
I just have a comment I would like make to you and all of the BHM staff. I would like to say a big thank you for all of your information you all have given over the years. I can every year and always make sure I have extra jars each year “just in case”. Well this last 3 weeks have been my “just in case time” We were hit hard in upstate New York by Hurricane Irene and she has devastated my town, community and county. Several members of my family have been left homeless and are currently residing with my husband and I. I was prepared! First of all we were all prepared to evacuate in case the dam broke( thank God it didn’t!) but when everyone else had to evacuate because of flooding they all came here 20 people in a 1000 sq ft house. I have more then enough food, supplies and water, enough gas for generator. All I can say is thankfully I listened to all of you and your emergency preparedness. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
The only thing I wasn’t prepared for was all the neighbors that came here also but we made due. I am already making changes to our plan for them for the next time.
Thank you all
Pam from Middleburgh, NY
We had several plants producing tomatoes last fall when we had a freeze warning, so we picked all of the green tomatoes on our plants.We discovered that by wrapping individual green tomatoes in newspapers, and storing them on a wire rack type shelf in our basement they slowly, yet fully and evenly ripened. We were able to eat them for several weeks after picking.
We have only raised beds, and we were hit with a late blight on our tomato plants this year. As we decided to pull them down in preparation for our fall veggies, we ended up with quite a few green tomatoes.
We prepped several pounds for fried green tomatoes and put them into one of our freezers. We also made about a dozen pints of quartered pickled green tomatoes using our standard kosher dill pickle brine mix, and added in some garlic, bell peppers and onions. They were (are) a BIG hit!
We’ll plan ahead next year and dedicate a larger portion of our tomato crop strictly for pickling.
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