Pepper Jelly

Last year, I made several types of pepper jelly, some with jalapeno peppers from my garden, supplemented with hot and sweet peppers from the North Tonawanda Farmer's Market. I was asked on the Seedsavers forum for favorite veggie recipes what you can use pepper jelly for and thought I'd post my response here too...

There's several different ways you can enjoy pepper jelly...because it's hot and sweet, you can serve right out of the jar with ...
...cream cheese and savory crackers

...warm brie and crusty artisan bread

Or, warm the jelly in a saucepan over low heat and enjoy as a dipping sauce with spring rolls. And you can use it to make homemade BBQ sauce...

easy bbq sauce
ingredients:
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup (4 ounces) pepper jelly
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp worcestershire sauce (optional)
salt
fresh ground pepper

directions:
in a saucepan over low heat, whisk together all the ingredients above. simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring often. add salt and pepper to taste. enjoy!

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"You must do that which you think you cannot do."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Successful Tomato Germination!

Hooray, the tomato seedlings have started to arrive! Last Saturday, I started several varieties of heirloom tomatoes: Pink Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Gold Medal, Isis Candy Cherry and Soldacki. Also started two types of peppers, Sweet Napolean and Red Habanero, but they haven't surfaced yet. Given that both the tomatoes and peppers need higher soil temperatures to germinate than other vegetables, I did toy around with the idea of getting a heat mat. But, prices for these start at around $30, NOT including a thermostat, so I decided against getting one and resigned myself to the fact that it just might take a little longer for the tomato and pepper seeds to germinate.  I'm glad I held off on buying a heat mat as it appears that it wasn't really necessary. And, here are the the Soldacki tomato seedlings leading the pack (photo below).


On a side note, you can buy a waterbed heater (which includes a thermostat) for about $40. I truly believe that any product containing the word "garden" or "plant" in it's title automatically hikes the price up by 50% or more. Seriously, take wooden plant markers for example. "Official" wooden plant labels/markers can run about $10 for 50 labels but what are they really? Umm, popsicle sticks! For around $6, you can buy 1000 popsicle stick (aka craft sticks) from Amazon. Practically the same dimensions and the only difference (and not a big one in my opinion) is that "official" plant markers have pointed ends. Price difference: one popsicle stick, less than 1 cent each vs. "official" wood plant label, 20 cents each. 


Anyhoo, still no signs of life from the pepper seeds. But, given that my tomato seedlings started germinating in 6 days, I have faith that the peppers will be making their debut shortly.

Adventures in Seed Starting - Leeks and Onions

It's been a little over a month since I started the Blue Solaize Leeks and Red Wethersfield Onions and they are now about 4 inches tall. They both took about a week and a half to germinate. I just started to add a weak solution of fertilizer to the watering schedule, every third watering or so. I use organic Alaska Fish Fertilizer which has an NPK (nitrogen(N), phosphorus(P), and potassium(K)) of 5-1-1 and is fast releasing. While there is an initial odor when you add the fish fertilizer to the water, it dissipates quickly. You can find this fertilizer at Lowes or Home Depot and a little goes a long way. An indication of when to start fertilizing seedlings is when they begin to grow their "true" leaves. The leaves that first appear after germination are called cotyledons and these will start to yellow and wither after a seedling's true leaves start to grow. I took these photos right after watering so everything looks a bit soggy.

I also started two small pots of Sweet Genovese Basil for my windowsill herb garden at about the same time. These seeds also germinated in about a week. You can see from the photo below that the basil seedlings have both the cotyledon leaves and their true leaves.



The Hydrofarm 4 ft Jump Start T5 Fluorescent Grow Light System is working OK. My only complaint is that it's only a one bulb fixture which doesn't cast light as wide as I'd hoped. But, this my fault for not doing my homework. :-) The next time, I think I'll go over to Home Depot and build something more custom to my liking. But, for someone first starting out with a small amount of seed starting, say two narrow trays max, I think this light system would be appropriate. Maybe next year when the basement is more organized (ha!), I'll set up a bigger seed starting operation.

I also started a bunch of heirloom tomatoes and peppers, both hot and sweet, but more about that later...

Adventures in Seed Starting

I've started seeds before and have probably made all the mistakes one can make...weak light sources, too much moisture, poor circulation = damping off disease and leggy starts. This year will be different! What I've learned from past experience (and disasters) is that the elements for seed starting success are:

1. A direct, movable light source
2. Good air circulation
3. Sterile containers and planting medium
4. Moderate moisture

While soil temperature is important for warm season veggies such as tomatoes and peppers, in the case of onions, lettuce, spinach and cabbage, not so much as these veggies will germinate in 32-45 degree soil temperatures. Heated grow mats are a waste of money in my opinion as warm season veggies will start to successfully germinate in soil temperatures as low as 59 degrees.

So, without breaking the bank, bought the Hydrofarm 4 ft Jump Start T5 Fluorescent Grow Light System from Amazon this morning. Cannot stress how important a movable light source is for successful seedling growth. I dabbled with the idea of using spot lighting, which I already have, but for under $100, I'm hoping this system works as well as the reviews say. Between money spent on seeds and the grow light system, everything else will definitely (hopefully) be on the cheap!

More to come...

Heirloom Seed Order

Just spent most the day researching, ordering and creating a database of heirloom seeds I'm planning on growing in my veggie garden this year. For the leeks and onions, I'll be starting them as soon as they come in. Looking forward to this as my breakfast room, where they'll be growing while the snow flies outside, will begin to smell sweet, green and organic. I know I won't need many transplants as my growing space is super limited so will be probably giving most of the plants away. Here's the list of seeds ordered from Seed Savers Exchange:

Tomato, Brandywine, Pink
Tomato, Cherokee Purple
Tomato, Gold Medal
Tomato, Isis Candy Cherry
Tomato, Soldacki OG
Bean, Fin de Bagnol OG
Pepper, Napoleon Sweet OG
Pepper, Habanero-Red
Basil, Genovese
Onion, Red Wethersfield
Leek, Blue Solaize
Carrot, Dragon
Carrot, Paris Market
Beet, Detroit Dark Red
Beet, Burpee's Golden