- Author: Alison Collin
When my daughter moved to the East Coast in spring 2021, I inherited a tin containing numerous old seed packets which mainly represented her enthusiastic optimism followed by dashed hopes.
The first crop that I risked were seeds from a packet of 'Endeavor' beans packed for the year 2014. The seeds looked fine – not dry and withered at all and since my own choice of fresh seed that I had planted earlier in the year had steadfastly refused to germinate I really had nothing to lose. I raked over the row from which I had just harvested potatoes and on July 19 planted the beans fairly close together. In just a few days they had all burst through the soil looking healthy and vigorous, and they went on to provide me with the best crop of tender beans ever.
Emboldened by this success, I decided this year to plant some seeds from the oldest packet of the collection which proved to be a few seeds of the everlasting flower, statice (Limoniun sinuatum). I have never grown these before and since the packet stated that one should sow them before the end of 2006 I knew that I was really pushing my luck!
There were just five statice seeds in the packet which I planted in a cell pack in spring. Once again they all germinated. I potted them on, and luckily I kept them inside until after our last frost. Once planted out they sat rather forlorn-looking for several weeks but then the rosettes of basal leaves suddenly grew rapidly and the next thing was that flower spikes shot up giving a lovely display of pink and blue. It is the calyx of the flowers that give the pink, blue or violet color while the corolla is white, or sometimes yellow. Apparently these flowers keep their color very well if dried although I shall have a hard time cutting them to see if this is true!
I also planted some seeds of Gallardia 'Arizona Sun' (2009 seed). They have grown and even produced a couple of flowers, although the plants are still small.
My only failure were old Echinacea seeds, none of which germinated.
For reliable yields, especially of food crops, one should always plant fresh seed that has been packed for the current growing year. Some plants simply will not germinate at all if the seeds are not fresh, e.g. parsnips. With our hot climate during the summer, and heated houses in the winter it is often impossible to find a consistently cool temperature in which to store seeds in order to maintain viability.
Sometimes it is just fun to experiment!
- Author: Vivian Patterson
I love Bread & Butter Pickles! One of the things I love best about them are the onions. We have just harvested our onions but don't have our cucumbers yet. I decided to make a version with just onions.
Step by Step Preparation for Bread & Butter Style Pickled Onions
Adapted from Ball's "Red Onions in Vinegar" recipe.
2½ - 3 pounds Onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup Kosher Salt
½ gallon cool water
- Weigh, peel and slice the onions.
- Cover the onions with a brine of the Kosher Salt dissolved into the ½ gallon cool water. Crack a tray of ice over the top and set aside for 2 hours. Stir from time to time, turning over the layers.
- Make the Vinegar syrup: Combine the following ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and set aside.
½ cup Water
1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. ground turmeric
1 ½ tsp. mustard seeds
½ tsp. celery seeds
½ tsp. coriander seeds
1 ½ tsp freshly grated ginger root
1 small fresh or dried red chiles, diced
- Prepare jars, lids and rings.
- Drain the brined onions and rinse them with fresh water. Bring the vinegar syrup back to a boil, add the onions, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, divide the onions among the prepared pint jars, then ladle the syrup into the jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Seal, and process in a water bath or steam canner for 10 minutes (sea level.)
Altitude Adjustment—Increase Processing Time:
1,001 – 3,000 feet: Increase by 5 minutes
3,001 – 6000 feet: Increase by 10 minutes
6,001 – 8,000 feet: Increase by 15 minutes
Over 8,001 feet: Increase by 20 minutes
- Check that jars have sealed then clean jars, label, and prepare for storage.
Notes about this recipe:
I sliced 3 lbs. onions, but I only used about 2½ lbs.
Yield: 3 pints.
Although this recipe used spices from a recipe in Saving the Season by Kevin West to obtain the bread and butter pickle flavor, it is essentially the same as the "Red Onions in Vinegar" tested recipe in Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving with safe additions of salt (as brine), sugar and spices, but substituting 5% apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar. Not all substitutions are safe to can. If you don't know what can be done, contact the helpline at immg@ucanr.edu, or just refrigerate your custom creation instead of canning it. More information about canning pickles as well as good recipes is available at this site.
Editors note: The Master Food Preservers have a demonstration plot at the Bishop Community Garden. They use the produce from that garden to share safe food preservation practices. As many readers of this blog may have onions ready in your garden, this may be of interest to you. If you have questions about home food preservation, please send your questions to the helpline: immg@ucanr.edu. To learn more about raising onions in the Eastern Sierra this this fact sheet: https://ucanr.edu/sites/
- Author: Dustin Blakey
In the western US our dry conditions keep many fungal diseases from becoming an issue. Since dry is something we do well in the Eastern Sierra, most of our garden diseases are viruses, not fungi. Things change some when we have summer monsoon conditions and rain.
For the past couple weeks, our humidity has been elevated with dew points above 50°F and temperatures are lower. If you cool your home with a swamp cooler you've probably felt the change. And last night it even rained!
When we get conditions like this in summer, we sometimes see diseases on vegetables that are normally not present.
I remember the last couple times we've had mid-summer conditions like this a disease called early blight appeared on tomatoes. Early blight is caused by the fungus Alternaria solani. In California it's uncommon outside of coastal areas. It gets its name from being mostly a disease that occurs early in the growing season.
I've never seen it be fatal here, nor have I seen it get on fruit since our weather soon gets back to super-dry like normal, but it can be alarming when it shows up. At this point in the season, tomato canopies are large and dense. The already high humidity is worse inside the canopy and temperatures are lower, leading to more disease, especially in places where other plants in the nightshade family have been grown before (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, etc.).
In the garden, I've only ever seen it on tomatoes in our area. We don't usually plant resistant varieties.
This disease usually starts at the bottom and works its way up the vines. Symptoms are yellowing with lesions that look a bit like bullseyes to me.
Look for this disease in the coming days, especially if you've been gardening in the same place a few years.
If it appears, we can usually control it by removing affected leaves when you see them. Chances are the weather will dry out soon and it no longer becomes an issue. Try not to water tomatoes in the afternoon when it's humid, and if you do need to water, aim for the soil, not the foliage. UC IPM recommends copper fungicides, but sprays are not usually needed in our area. It's more of a temporary condition here; more alarming than anything else. It doesn't seem to get out of control, especially if you remove the yellow leaves.
If you have questions about this or other diseases in your garden, contact our local Master Gardener helpline at immg@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Vivian Patterson
I have a small growing area at the side of my house in Bishop that gets lots of heat and very little sun. I started planting onions in this area about 10 years ago but found that the bulbs never got more than 1-2” in diameter. Now I intentionally plant onions there every January that I freeze whole.
Here is my process.
After the onions have been picked, dried, & cleaned up, separate into groups according to size.
Peel onions keeping sizes separated.
Blanch Onions for 3 minutes. (Here is how to do this.)
Drain and Prepare to Individually Freeze, Freeze until frozen solid. Overnight is good.
When frozen, remove from freezer. Label Bags. Put desired portions into bags.
Seal all bags. Remove air before sealing.
Notes about Frozen Onions:
- Frozen Onions should only be used for cooking. They are no longer used raw.
- Very small frozen onions may be used in recipes calling for frozen pearl onions.
Uses for Frozen Onions:
- Stews*
- Roast Meats*
- Boeuf Bourguignon*
- Coq au Vin*
- Braised as a side dish (https://www.food.com/recipe/braised-onions-a-la-julia-child-148656)
- Sauteed as a side dish
- Soups
*Braise your onions first. See braised Onion recipe link. Always thaw your onions before braising.
Editor's Note: The Master Food Preservers have a demonstration plot at the Bishop Community Garden. They use the produce from that garden to share safe food preservation practices. As many readers of this blog may have onions ready in your garden, this may be of interest to you. If you have questions about home food preservation, please send your questions to the helpline: immg@ucanr.edu. To learn more about raising onions in the Eastern Sierra this this fact sheet: https://ucanr.edu/sites/
- Author: Carolyn Lynch
Tomatillos (Physalis ixocarpa) are so easy to grow, they are almost weeds. Since I first grew them long ago, they have returned to my garden every year, reseeding with gusto and growing like… weeds. They have been productive and trouble free for me, until last year.
Late last summer, when fruit was forming but hadn't ripened, I noticed holes in the leaves, lots of them. On inspection, I found numerous small larvae all over the plants. They looked like tiny slugs with little piles of brownish stuff on their backs that looked kind of like poop. As I searched among the plants, I brushed against their leaves, and on leaving the garden I noticed that my hands and clothing were covered with a brown substance that looked and felt just like poop.
I couldn't find anything about this beetle on the UC IPM website or in any UC ANR publications, but there was information on agricultural extension websites from Maine, New Hampshire and Minnesota. Closer to home, I found a good info sheet from Utah State University. This pest may be a relative newcomer to our state. In any case, it has made itself at home in my garden.
I learned that these beetles may overwinter either as larvae or as adults. Although they did not appear until late last season, they seem to have spent last winter in or near my garden and thus were able to get a much earlier start this year.
Some of the sources I consulted dismissed the potential for crop damage as minor, but that has not been my experience. Last year's plants were largely defoliated and I didn't get much of a crop. If you notice that something is chewing on your tomatillos' leaves, it is time to take immediate action.
If you see the larvae, adults, or eggs, you can try hand picking them; sources recommend dropping them into a container of soapy water. If you try this with the larvae, you may want another container of soapy water for your hands. This is truly the most disgusting pest I have ever encountered. They are less smelly than squash bugs, but the ick factor is real. Since the infestation in my garden was too extensive for me to hand pick individuals, I tried washing them into a bucket with the hose, which didn't work as well but did keep everything cleaner.
If you suspect that these beetles have arrived in your neighborhood, a proactive approach will be more effective. Solanaceous weeds, especially Physalis species (ground-cherries), act as alternate hosts and should be removed (by the same token, cultivated ground-cherries should be protected). Although I didn't see it mentioned, Datura, either wild or cultivated, would presumably be another target. Floating row covers placed early in the season can exclude the overwintering generation from your tomatillos.
Pesticides are not recommended except where there's the potential for real economic damage, an unlikely scenario in a home garden. Despite their name, three-lined potato beetles are reportedly not very interested in potatoes, or tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or almost any other solanaceous vegetables except tomatillos.
I have been gardening in the Eastern Sierra for more than forty years, and this beetle is new to me. Based on the paucity of information I've been able to find, I'm guessing it may be new to this part of the country. I hope my story will help other gardeners prepare for their arrival in their own gardens, and to recognize and manage them when they get there.
Here's a link to the fact sheet from Utah State University, with more information and pictures:
https://extension.usu.edu/pests/research/three-lined-potato-beetle