{"id":1647,"date":"2011-09-12T14:35:14","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T18:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2011-09-12T14:35:14","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T18:35:14","slug":"q-and-a-of-the-day-green-tomatoes-elderberries-and-damping-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2011\/09\/12\/q-and-a-of-the-day-green-tomatoes-elderberries-and-damping-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A of the day: Green tomatoes, Elderberries, and Damping off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Green tomatoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

Natalie<\/em>
\nLos Alamos, New Mexico<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Elderberries<\/strong><\/p>\n

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? <\/em><\/p>\n

Jess<\/em>
\nFort Wayne, Indiana<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Damping off<\/strong><\/p>\n

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? <\/em><\/p>\n

Betty<\/em>
\nCovington, Georgia<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}