About a week ago I took a look at my pepper plants and realized that I was about to be buried alive in hot peppers. Now, appealing as that might sound to some people, I know that I won't be able to use all of these suckers while they're still fresh. I need to learn how to preserve fruits and veggies. I'm starting with canning, since that seems the most mysterious and potentially dangerous of the various food preservation methods. Might as well live on the edge, right? Anyway, after googling around I found a pretty straightforward series of videos from Granny Miller. This is a five part series. I'll break this up over several posts over the next few days, but if you're anxious to watch them all at once then check out Granny Miller's youtube page, where you can also learn how to shear a sheep, make a slipcover, or raise chickens.
Tips
August 28, 2008
August 25, 2008
August 23, 2008
Harvesting the Rain (assuming we ever get any)
I am excited to see that the City of Richmond is encouraging residents to start composting by offering a high quality composting container for a great price. Terrific idea! Here's a suggestion for their next offering:
A rain barrel.
Dry spells during Richmond summers are pretty common. Water restrictions are no fun for anyone concerned about their landscape, but when you're growing food that your family eats it's even more frustrating. Rainwater harvesting is a very practical approach to reducing your municipal or well water use for landscaping. Water can be stored and reserved for dry spells, or it can be used to supplement irrigation with municipal or well water. I plan on investing in at least one of these next spring but I think it would be just great if the city could repeat their discount composter deal with rain barrels.
Rainwater harvesting is actually pretty interesting and the systems available can be very ambitious , like huge cisterns with pumps and filtrations systems that are designed to supplement the entire household water supply or systems that use rainwater for toilet flushing. However, considering that up to 40% of household water use is for landscaping in Summer months, a simple rain barrel (or two) seems like it could have a lot of impact, both on municpal water supply and on the wallet. Additionally, rainwater is often softer and freer of contaminants than the water from the city or a well, and there's no chlorine. That makes it easier on your plants. I found some interesting links on rain water harvesting here , here , and here . If anyone reading this has any experience with rain water collection for irrigation I'd love to get some feedback.
Now What? Time to gear up for Fall
As we sit back and admire the fruits of our summer gardening labor, it's time to muster up the energy to get planting for the cool season. But what, you might ask, do I plant for a Fall garden? We caught up with George Ferguson from Amy's Garden at the South of the James Farmers Market (Forest Hill Park) to shed some light on which veggies to plant.
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Amy's Garden (New Kent & Charles City, VA)
Byrd House Market - Tue 3:30-7
17th St. Farmers Market - Thur 8:30-1
South of the James Farmers Market - Sat 8-noon
Williamsburg Farmers Market - Sat 8-noon
Amy Hicks also teaches Organic Gardening Courses at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden . Please email her for more info.
