Tips on Tuesday - Harvest

 I mentioned yesterday, that the weather over the weekend was beautiful here.  We (mostly Al) worked on cleaning out the garden and small pasture near the barn, making ready for Spring.  

This is our garden, the chickens love scratching in the dirt.

This is the small pasture near the barn.  I wanted to plant sunflowers, but Al doesn't think that is a good idea so close to the barn.  The mice will love it too much and want to make the barn their winter home....(wink, wink).

Some are huge!

Tips on Tuesday - Harvest:

This year we didn't put up a fence around our whole garden, you can see it's rather big and the deer get into it anyway.  Too much work.  We studied things the deer don't like to eat.  That was potatoes, so about 1/2 of this was that.  Our soil is mostly clay, so some rows faired better than others.  Wait for plant to "die off" you have several weeks after that to still dig them up.  We did it in stages as we had so many rows.  Pull up the stalk of the plant, that will usually turn over a few and then you will know where to dig.  Start digging several inches from the plant first so that you don't damage any of the potatoes.  Let them "harden" and then pack them away for winter.  Do NOT wash these.  You can use a box, make sure to punch some holes in it, alternate layer of straw, hay or shredded paper with potatoes.  Store in a cool, dark, dry place.  Can be used for months.  I would suggest saving some "seed potatoes" for next year.   

This process I just described for storage, can also be used for other vegetables and fruit.  We do the same for our apples.  

I make the easiest unsweetened applesauce.  I wash, our apples are not sprayed, core, chunk and cook down, peelings and all.  I do add a small amount of water so apples don't stick.  Cook down till soft and use an immersion blender until smooth.  So good and good for you.  I do this in small batches.  If I have alot of apples, I will wash, core, chop and freeze them and then make fresh sauce.  

The BEST tip is this:  Clean out your garden in the fall.  Take all the dried, dead plants, weeds and such out.  Turn over the soil so it can rest till spring.  When we've NOT done this in the fall, motivation for spring planting is overcome by the "ughh I have to clean out the garden first."  Now, you can dream about planting, plan your varities, start your seeds and it all be ready to plant.  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.