How long to wait for foods to pickle

My wife canned some Dilly Beans last night for the first time. She was wondering how long they need to sit in the jar till they are pickled?

Same questions for beets and bread and butter pickles she is going to try next.

David Kardelis
Helper, Utah

Usually you should let your pickles sit for at least two weeks before they develop their final flavor. It’s hard to wait, isn’t it? — Jackie

Preparing the garden for next year

Now that we are nearing the end of the growing season and some crops are done what is the best way to prepare our soil for next year? I have parts where the weeds have gotten away from me. Do I cover crop this early into fall? Maybe a ryegrass? I also have chicken bedding with manure. This has not been one of my best gardens. Just parts of it were the best! I also have ½ of the tomato plants with blight. Is there anything I can do to prepare the next tomato area for the next growing season? I also have bags of leaves from last fall that I didn’t use. Should I use them now? Any suggestions as to having a better garden next year would be greatly appreciated. Oh and I have sandy soil.

Cindy Hills
Wild Rose, Wisconsin

I’d pull all your tomato, pepper, and potato vines and burn them right in the garden (added potash!) to help keep down disease. It’s a little too late for you to covercrop. I’d till the heck out of that weedy area until it freezes then lightly till in the spring a couple of times before you plant. Use your chicken manure to sheet compost right on the garden where you plan on planting your squash, beans, or corn then till it in lightly this fall along with those leaves. You can use those leaves where you plan on planting your tomatoes next year as they won’t give such a hot shot of nitrogen to the soil (causes big vines and few tomatoes) but will add nutrients and organic material to your sandy soil. After you plant and get your garden growing well next spring, think strongly about mulching quite heavily. This really helps keep weeds down. We use about six inches of straw or weed-free hay (we use reed canary grass) and our weed problem went from horrible to hardly any. — Jackie

5 COMMENTS

  1. gen,

    Here’s a recipe I found that your dad may like:

    3 lbs young fresh okra
    6 cloves garlic
    6 teaspoons celery seeds
    6 hot peppers
    6 teaspoons dill seeds
    1/2 cup salt (not iodized)
    1 cup sugar
    1 quart water
    1 quart white vinegar

    Directions:

    1

    Pack washed okra in 6 pint jars.

    2

    Divide garlic, celery seed, hot pepper and dill seed between the jars.

    3

    Combine salt, sugar, water and vinegar in large saucepan; bring to boiling and pour into jars to within 1/2 inch of top.

    4

    Seal jars and place in hot water bath (water to cover jars) for 7 minutes

    Good luck!

  2. My dad LOVES okra, but he doesn’t like the sour/dill pickled okra. He doesn’t like any sour pickles, period. He told me a couple of weeks ago that he had been given a “sweet dilled’ pickling recipe for it, and I’m hoping it is as snappy as the old style pickles, and not a soggy gooey mess. Has anyone ever heard of a sweet dill okra recipe? We can as many jars of candied dill pickle slices as we can each year. The grandkids can eat a quart at a time, just as a snack.
    TIA

  3. Use as many leaves as you can get! I started my garden 4 years ago. The first year the crop was horrible (plus I really didn’t know what I was doing). That fall every time I went through town I picked up as many bags of leaves as I could fit in my car. Dumped them on the garden. The next year the garden was significantly better. Did it again the next year and the next, getting over 200 bags each year. Last year I had tons of chicken poop available, so that all went in the garden (in the fall, so it has time to decompose). My soil went from hard clay to (mostly) real nice dirt by doing that.

    I now have it setup so that the chickens can have the run of the garden during the fall/winter so that should help even more.

  4. I have to admit, I’m usually late with planting my cover crops because I can’t bear to put the garden to bed until the last minute. I have scattered winter rye in semi-frozen ground and had it come up over the winter or in early spring.

    I pile the leaves on all through the growing season as mulch, in addition to the winter rye that I pull before planting, and sometimes dried out lawn clippings since I don’t have access to much else right now. I totally agree – thick mulch rules!

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