On Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 8:02:38 AM UTC-4, wrote:
> On 3/14/2021 12:33 AM, Michael Trew wrote:
> > On 3/14/2021 12:10 AM, Snag wrote:
> >> On 3/13/2021 10:45 PM, Michael Trew wrote:
> >>> Does anyone still can food in ball jars? I'm thinking about planting
> >>> a lot of tomatoes this year and canning some. I never have before,
> >>> but there's a first time for everything I reckon.
> >>
> >> We still have some tomatoes from last year down in the cellar - and I
> >> have 24 tomato plants started for this year . Got jelly and jams and
> >> pickles and peaches down there too ! Most from home grown or picked wild
> >> on our land . Tomatoes freeze well too , just rinse off , freeze loose
> >> on a cookie sheet then bag in gallon ziplocks . To use , just hold under
> >> hot water for a few seconds and slip the skin off . I'll be using some
> >> of our preserved tomatoes tomorrow for a big batch of spaghetti sauce .
> >
> > I made a tiny batch of homemade tomato sauce for Italian style
> > Margharetta pizza the other day. Do you normally blanch and peel
> > tomatoes before canning them?
> >
> > I don't have a lot of land, and did a few container tomatoes last year.
> > I have a pick and a small rototiller, and I might make a row of tomato
> > and bell pepper plants along the southern side of my house before the
> > hill drops off. I saved quite a few bell pepper and tomato seeds for
> > the occasion! I'm in eastern Ohio, but I probably should start them off
> > pretty soon.
> >
> It's not too late to start from seed outdoors. By the time you actually
> harvest the tomatoes, the direct seeded into the ground ones aren't far
> behind the transplanted ones. T

It depends on your conditions. Here in Michigan, the soil is rarely
warm enough for transplants much before Memorial Day. Direct-seed
tomatoes would never make it in time before the first frost.

> The south side of a house before a
> dropoff is the perfect place for a tomato bed.

Heh. I might have trouble digging a planting hole in my asphalt driveway. :-)

Cindy Hamilton