September Emergency Preparedness - Grow a Winter Garden and Eat for Free.

Growing a Winter Garden

Vegetables that work for most winter gardens include beets, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, onions, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, leeks, turnips, kohlrabi, collard greens, many lettuces, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, chives and radishes.

Plant garlic now and don’t cover it.  The garlic will be ready in the summer.

It is not possible to grow summer crops like tomatoes, cucumbers or zucchini in the winter—unless you want to invest in a heated greenhouse with special lights and other climate controls.

Start your winter now.  The Reno/Sparks area has an average first frost of September 10.

You need to be able to cover your crops.  The birds will eat your seedlings, so keep a close watch on your garden or keep it covered at all times.

Raised beds covered with old windows are the easiest.  Milk jugs, large soda bottles, or any clear/semi-clear plastic will work.  As the plants grow the containers to cover the plants will need to get larger also.

Hoop houses work great also.  They can easily be built with PVC pipe rounded over the garden and the ends secured to the ground and covered with clear plastic.  Put pieces or rebar into the ground and place the pipe ends on the rebar.  Any clear plastic will work for a season or two, but special UV resistant plastic is available.  Check your local plant nursery.

Cut the bottom off of the milk or soda bottles.  Save the lids to close the top of the container to keep the plant warmer and remove the top when the weather is very warm.

Mulch will help keep the plants warm. Snow is a great for keeping plants warm also.

Remember to water as needed.  Don’t over water.  If you have raised beds that are covered you will need to water more, since no snow or rain can get inside.

Watch for bugs in your plants.  They will love the warmth from the plant covering also.

Save the snow and rain that runs off of the roof for watering your garden.

August Emergency Preparedness - Dehydrating

If you planted a garden this summer, you may be wondering what to do with all of the produce.  If your fruit trees are producing a lot too, you may be wondering what to do with all of the fruit.

Here are some dehydrating ideas:

The following items (from my experience) can be placed on the dehydrator racks at 120 - 130 degrees and dried until crisp.

Crookneck slices

Zucchini slices

Cabbage strips

Spinach leaves

All herb leaves

Bell pepper slices

Tomato slices

Onion slices

The following items need to be blanched (cooked in boiling water), then but into ice cold water to stop the cooking process before drying

Carrot slices, peeled – blanch 3 to 5 minutes

Corn on the cob – blanch 3 to 5 minutes cut kernels off of the cob before drying.

Hash browns – boil potatoes whole and cool overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning peel, shred, and dehydrate.

Potato slices – peel and slice. Place in cold lemon water to keep them from turning brown before dehydrating.

The following items (from my experience) can be placed on the dehydrator racks at 120 - 130 degrees and dried until pliable, but dry.  Place in cold lemon water before drying to keep them from turning brown.

Apple slices

Peach slices

Pear slices

The following do not need to go into lemon water first:

Cherries, pitted

Grapes

Make fruit leather (fruit roll-ups)

Puree desired fruit.  I like to add applesauce to make the fruit go farther.  It seems to me that it helps the apricots not turn as dark and the berry fruits not so seedy.  I use about 1/4 to 1/3 part applesauce.  Test your mixture to see how it tastes.  Add a liquid sweetener if needed.  Granulated sweeteners make the fruit leather crispy.  Dry until pliable.  Lay the fruit leather on a sheet of plastic wrap before rolling, so it doesn’t stick to itself and become a tube of fruit leather.  If it becomes crisp, crumble the fruit crisp and add to cereal.

For more details and pictures go to my garden preserving blog - http://reapitkeepit.blogspot.com/