Pickling grapes

I just read the question about what to do with grapes. One of my favorite things is pickled grapes. They are delicious! I have seen recipes for canning them, but have only made refrigerator pickles (I am afraid that canning them would take the crunch out). The recipe I like (I don’t remember where I got it):

2 cups seedless grapes (very pretty when you use a combination of red, green, and black)
2 cups white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 sprig fresh rosemary
hot pepper flakes to taste
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 cup water

Take the grapes off the stems and pack into three or four pint-size jars, or a couple of quarts. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour over the grapes, making sure to cover them. Cover tightly and refrigerate. They will be ready to eat when cold, but I like to wait (or try to) for a couple of days. They keep very well for a few weeks.

Barb Mundorff
North Royalton, Ohio

I have seen recipes using the kind of spices used for watermelon rind pickles, and think that would be great too. Thanks for sharing! That recipe sounds great. I’m sure plenty of readers will enjoy it. — Jackie

Apricot tree

We moved to this homestead property two years ago in June and were happy to find a maturing apricot tree but, alas, no fruit. The following spring, zero blossoms, bummer. Then, this spring — Bonanza! — wall to wall blossoms! But, alas all over again, at fruit set, all the little fruits withered and fell to the ground plus many of the new branch shoots withered and turned brown — branch and leaf alike. We’ll probably get a harvest just employing patience, but, Doctor, what do think that withering and fruit-dropping is all about?

Always happy to hear you on the Self-Reliance Expozed radio show,

The Fosters
Cheney, Washington

My best guess is that your tree suffered frost damage while just forming fruit. This also causes new shoots and leaves to die off. Prune off all dead branches and keep the grass and weeds mowed beneath the tree. Hopefully next year you’ll get apricots. It’s so hard to wait, isn’t it? — Jackie

Squash bugs

The squash bugs are busy at work in my garden. I hand pick all the bugs and eggs I can find. My question: is there anything I can brush over the eggs so they won’t hatch? I only ask because when hand picking the eggs I usually end up tearing the leaf.

Dawn Norcross
Orion, Illinois

I don’t know of anything that will kill the eggs, but I might try brushing neem oil on them to see if that would smother the eggs. I usually just hold the leaf upside down and scrape the eggs off with a table knife. This works well and doesn’t usually harm the leaf. Be sure to burn all squash and pumpkin plant debris this fall. The bugs over winter in the dead vines and you don’t want so many “friends” next year! — Jackie

7 COMMENTS

  1. I love killing squash bugs and have been meaning to write up how to control them for the facebook page for my farmer’s market.

    Here is goes:
    They are most active when it is warm, so they are easier to find in the afternoon but harder to catch. Bring a bucket of water and scissors or a knife. Work bare handed but I recommend that you wear long sleeves to protect your arms from squash leaf abrasions.

    Kneel down so you can use both hands. Lift and look under every leaf. Look for the eggs at the base of the leave and on the bottom of the stem. You can either scrap off the eggs with your nail, the knife or just cut the chunk out of the leaf with the eggs attached. The hole will not hurt your plant. If you flip over a leaf and find a whole family of babies, just cut the whole leaf and dunk it in the water. Sink it with a rock and move on. Put the bucket under the leaf as they will try to drop and run. The eggs will be found on the largest and darkest green of the leaves. They know how to pick a nursery for the kids.

    Look for the adults under the leaves that are lying flat against the ground. That is where you will find them as they are mating. Don’t squish them just dump and drown them. When crushed they give off a sweet, candy like smell that I think is a warning to all other squash bugs that a predator is in the area. The adults are gray and match the color of a dead squash leaf. As you work through your plants remove or crush any gray leaves, giving them less places to hide. Also look over the stem, base of your plant as you look at each leaf. They love to hide on the under side of stems at the base of the plant.

    It is hard to stay ahead of them but definitely worth the work. If you let the eggs hatch out, you will never catch up with them.

  3. Apricot trees with Christmas lights! Love it!! what a great idea and will sure do it next spring. I have 2 Chinese apricot trees that have produced very well, but this year in our Arctic weather pattern got hit with late freezes, freezing rain and wind and have about 6 fruit total on them. The blossoms either blew off or froze, and so did the little fruit. In addition to what Jackie suggested, if they were mine I’d remove all the grass and weeds out to the drip line and keep the soil covered about 4-6 inches deep with compost, renewed each year. Also make sure they have enough water in the winter and spring. My apricot trees are in full sun and wind all day. Although everyone tells me it doesn’t do any good (and if you read up on chill hours and dormancy it probably doesn’t in a normal climate) I wrap my tree trunks each fall with white polyester tree wrap and don’t remove it until our weather settles down to keep the trunks from heating up and maybe slow down the sap movement. There may be a lot you can do to get reliable fruit production (including Christmas lights) if you study the wind and frost patterns where the trees are, feed them well and keep them watered.

  5. I used to lose all of my apricots to frost. I now have two strands of Christmas mini-lights draped through the tree and plug them in when the tree starts to blossom, until the fruit is about pea size. I get great crops since doing that. I have seen mornings down to 22 degrees that did not damage the blossoms.

  6. Jackie, Just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your endless wisdom. Can’t wait to read your blog daily. Have picked up a lot of info I can use. Thank you and keep up the good work.

  7. A great way to remove those squash bug eggs is duct tape. Just tear you a small piece and cover those eggs and they come right off. Works for the little ones as they hatch also. Take the pieces of duct tape with the eggs attached and burn them. I carry a small plastic bag for the tape pieces and the tape and spend about an hour or so every other day just picking the eggs and bugs. It sure helps keeps their numbers down.

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