Ways to Preserve Sweet Corn

 

I love the late summer, early fall season. Summer storms, fresh fruit, and an abundance of veggies.  Gardens exploding and spilling over raised beds and beautiful summer and fall flowers. This is a busy season for canning, freeze drying, and trying new recipes. 

 Sweet corn is one of the crops you can look forward to harvesting at this time.  With so many ways to preserve sweet corn, it's a must have crop if you have the space.  Also nothing beats fresh picked sweet corn slathered in butter, salt, and your favorite seasonings.  So I thought I would compile all my sweet corn posts to make it easy to find info on harvesting, growing sweet corn, and preserving sweet corn.

Growing Sweet Corn

When to Harvest Sweet Corn

3 Recipes for Preserving Corn

Vegetable Soup

Freezing Corn on the Cob

Sweet Corn Relish

Silver Queen white sweet corn

Summer Garden Crops: Tips for Growing & Harvesting

With fall not too far off and summer harvests peaking, I hope you are enjoying the fruits of your labor.  If you have experienced some success and some frustrating disappointments, don't worry that is part of the garden experience.  Gardening has lots of variables from weather, drought, pests, neglect, etc and adapting to those variables is part of the experience.

Thomas Jefferson, whose most intimate passion was horticulture, said,

"Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one thro' the year... I am still devoted to the garden.  But tho' an old man, I am but a young gardener."

I hope that you too are still devoted to the garden and the abundance it has the potential to bring.  Where ever you are in experience and wisdom in the adventure of gardening; there is always the hope of a better season. 

Most years are favorable to cucumbers.  If you are a beginning gardener they are a good choice to start with.  Cucumbers need a trellis.  They are climbers and keeping the fruit off the ground is helpful.  

 I inter- plant with snapdragons and nasturtiums. I really like the combination.  I use hog fencing for a trellis.

There are different types of cucumbers:  slicing (for fresh eating), pickling, and specialty varieties like lemon, English or Armenian.
My favorite slicing is Summer Dance and Armenian.  Almost any pickling variety is prolific.  

Be sure to give them adequate water.  Drought stressed cucumbers with be misshapen and bitter. Fish emulsion is also important because they are heavy feeders.

Trellising cucumbers allows for good air circulation to prevent fungal disease and allows the fruit to grow straight.
 

 The pictures below show pickling cucumbers and Armenian.  Armenian cucumbers are actually in the melon family but taste like a cucumber.  I think they have incredible flavor and crispness, for a cucumber, and everyone who tries them decides that cucumbers are actually good.

 Root crops like beets and carrots are another great choice for the beginning gardener. This picture below is Bull's Blood Beets which are great for greens with the added benefits of antioxidants of betalins and not anthocynains in the leaves.  This unique antioxidant provides support in different ways than other antioxidant-rich veggies.  Forms of this antioxidant are found in the roots of both red and golden beets.  Golden beets are my favorite they are much sweeter. 

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Carrots are another easy crop to grow.  They need a soil free of rocks with lots of organic matter.  They can be tricky to get to germinate.  If at any point they dry out the seed or seedlings will die.  I always hand water a freshly planted bed or carrots in both the morning and evening.  You can lay a weed block or row cover fabric directly on the ground over the seeds to help hold in moisture but be sure to remove it when they begin to germinate.  Another problem gardeners have with carrots is planting the seeds too deep.  Carrot seeds just barely need to be covered.  You can sprinkle the seeds and brush the area with your hand and that's about all you need to cover them.

Growing Carrots

  
Both red and golden beets are easy to grow and can be succession planted throughout the season. In most zones you can even get a fall crop.  Always direct seed beets

Carrots are delicious eaten fresh but roasting them with beets, potatoes, rutabagas, and onions is one our families favorite meals.

Root Crops Recipes 
Fall Root Crops 

Peppers are another easy crop to grow if you have warm summer days and nights.  The key to large peppers is to pick the flowers off while the plants are young.  Let them get large with lots of foliage before allow peppers to develop fruit.  There so many peppers to choose from so try a variety. Lots of foliage protects the fruit from sun scald and allows the plant leaf surface area to produce food for the plant.

Green beans are definitely a great beginning garden crop.  Bush varieties that continual produce a crop are my favorite.  y favorite green variety is Slenderette which is a hybrid.  I also really enjoy the French filet bean Maxibel and long slender and very tender bean.  The heirlooms I grown include Royal Burgundy and Yellow Pencil Pod.  I am allowing them to produce seed for next year.

Regularly harvesting green beans is critical to having a long harvest.  Also pull off any misshapen beans. If you have a lot of small curled beans they are probably water stressed.  Only harvest when the leaves are dry.  Harvesting wet can easily spread disease.  The only real disease issue is mosaic viruses.  There are different viruses but in most causes it causes a mottled discolored leaf.  They are spread by vector insects so pesticides are ineffective.  It is best to pull and destroy any plants that may be affected.

Dilly Beans Recipe 

Watermelon and summertime go hand in hand.  There is an exciting world of melons for the home gardener.  One of my favorites is an orange fleshed variety so try something along with old time favorites.  Everything you need to know about growing melons is in this link:

Growing Watermelons 

Strawberry Watermelon Lemonade 

 

Nothing is better than a homegrown muskmelon.  Muskmelons can have netted skins or be smooth.  They can be ribbed or non-ribbed.
The American melon with the ribbed skin and orange flesh is what most people know as a cantaloupe.  

The French Charentais melon is smooth grayish color with only faint ribs.  The flesh is orange and absolutely heavenly. I highly recommend trying these French gems. 

The Melon Family: Cantaloupes, Muskmelons, & Honey Dew

What would summer be without corn on the cob?  I have two gardens, one for field crops and a garden of raised beds.  Corn needs to be planted in large blocks of at least 5x5'  for good pollination. A good portion of the field garden is devoted to corn. I have a link for more info on growing sweet corn. 

Sweet Corn 

Freezing Corn on the Cob 

 There are other options besides sweet corn.  There are dent, flour, flint, and popcorn.

Dent corn is characterized by a depression in the crown of the kernel caused by unequal drying of the hard and soft starch making up the kernel. They are the typical field corn used for animal feed, cornmeal, and fuel. (Bountiful Gardens)

 Flint corn, containing little soft starch, has no depression. Popcorn is considered this type as are the colorful Indian or ornamental corns. Flint corns are more cold tolerant. (Bountiful Gardens)

 Flour corn, composed largely of soft starch, has soft, mealy, easily ground kernels. Sweet corn has wrinkled, translucent seeds; the plant sugar is not converted to starch as in other types. (

                             I like Blue Hopi Flint corn, Floriani for cornmeal and flour.

This is a mini butternut.  I love the size which is good for 1 or 2 people.  This is perfect for me because I'm the only one in my family that enjoys winter squash.  This variety also seems to produce more fruit than larger varieties.

Grapes are a favorite.  I always feel like I'm battling a beast when it comes to controlling the growth of grapes.  To get a good crop they need to be pruned heavily.  I honestly feel if I stood still too long by the grapes the vines would entangle me and I would never get free.

The biggest challenge I have with grapes is keeping the birds and wasps away.  A radio tuned to talk radio works fairly good with birds.  Homemade traps with wasps have helped somewhat.  I've tried tulle but the birds just get stuck inside.  Sadly I always lose some of my crops to both pests.

I grow both table grapes and Concord grapes for jelly and juicing.

Grape Jelly 

 

A little cool summer is great for broccoli and cauliflower.  I plant a large spring crop and a small late summer crop to be harvested in the fall.  Above is Graffiti which is just a gorgeous color.  It loses its color if steamed but retains it better if roasted.

Broccoli and Cauliflower: A Royal Treat

Cheddar is another favorite variety of cauliflower.  If you grow brocolli and cauliflower through the summer be prepared to deal with aphids and caterpillars.  There are effective organic methods to deal with these troublesome pests.

Summer Garden Pests: Cabbage Loppers 

Aphids 

Potatoes are a family favorite.  You can plant early, midseason, and late season varieties.  Late season are your storage potatoes.  My favorite is Purple Viking.

This is our field garden.  We put weed block cloth down and shredded bark in the paths to make weeding easier.  I usually rotate corn, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, and watermelon on one side and have permanent plantings of berries on the other.  Some of the berries include gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, tay berries, loganberries, elderberries, and boysenberries.  Grapes are trellised along the back.
 

I love having a pumpkin patch.  There are so many varieties of pumpkins and winter squash. 

Pie Pumpkins or Sugar Pumpkins

Kogigu Squash: A Heirloom Winter Squash

Growing & Harvesting Watermelon

The tassel of the corn produces the pollen.  One pollen grain has to pollinate each silk and each pollinated silk produces a corn kernel.  Wind is the main source of pollination.  This is why corn needs to be planted in blocks and close together.

Growing Brambles: Blackberries & Strawberries

Every year the garden is an adventure with something or many new things learned.  So like Jefferson, "I am still devoted to the garden.  But tho' a (kinda) old (woman), I am but a young gardener."

Controlling Early Blight in Tomatoes

 

Our monsoon season has brought lots of rain and humid conditions for both July and August.  While early blight is not usually an issue because of our dry conditions this year is the exception and many people have lost their tomatoes.  Early blight can affect both potatoes and tomatoes.  The key to not losing your crop is to recognize it early, understand this pathogen, and use cultural methods to control and prevent, and use fungicides when necessary.

What is Early Blight?

Early Blight is a fungal disease that occurs on mature vines.  Don't be confused by the term early; it usually shows up in mid to late summer if rainy, humid conditions exist.  It can affect the leaves, stems, and fruit of both potatoes and tomatoes.

Early blight is caused by the fungus Alternaria solani. The fungus overwinters on debris from previously diseased plants. Airborne spores will cause infection on  new tomato and potato plants.  The spores are  produced on infected debris and on volunteer tomato and potato plants. The disease is more serious under wet or humid conditions. The first lesions occur in the lower part of the plant where humidity is highest.  (USU Extension)

Blight on tomato fruit.

Symptoms of Early Blight (USU Extension)

• Early leaf symptoms begin as pinpoint brown or black spots, usually on the lower (older) leaves.
• Leaf spots are frequently surround by a yellow halo.
• Concentric rings can be seen within the enlarged lesions.
• Irregularly shaped lesions that may be somewhat angular because they are often limited by large leaf veins.
• Sunken and silvery stem lesions ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 inch in size.
• Stem lesions may join to produce large infected areas.
• Stem lesions are an indication of a serious early blight outbreak.
• Tomato fruit symptoms are not common in Utah, but include greenish brown to black sunken lesions (usually on the stem-end of the fruit) with concentric rings.
• Irregularly shaped potato tuber lesions that look dark colored at first and then become sunken.
• Dry and leathery tuber tissue that ordinarily remain hard and dry, but wet rot will occur if the lesion is invaded by other fungi or bacteria
• Tuber infections are infrequent in Utah.

Notice the lesions on the stems

Treatment

• Frequently check for early signs of blight in wet conditions especially on the lower leaves.  Brown spots will be the first indication.
• As the disease spreads and progresses, leaves will yellow, lesions will cause dark dead spots, and it will progress up the plant.
• As you monitor your plants remove any diseased leaves by pruning them off.  There is no cure for a fungus so pruning off diseased leaves is important.  Fungicides only prevent the fungal spores from colonizing on new leaves.
• Do not throw pruned leaves on the ground or leave in the garden.  Throw them in the trash.
• If the disease occurs during the beginning of August you will need to treat with a fungicide to prevent the spread.
• I use a copper fungicide when I have blight.  Neem is also a fungicide but with continued humidity and rain you will want to use the copper fungicide.  
• If you know moist, wet conditions are coming your way you can use Neem as a preventative spray before the moisture comes but it is not as affective when you already have early blight.

Cultural Methods to prevent fungal disease

• Remove all diseased plant material at the end of the season and put it in the trash or burn it.
• Rotate where you plant tomatoes and potatoes.  Use a 2 year rotation.
• Do not use an overhead water system.
• Give plants adequate space to allow good air circulation.
• Buy disease free starts.
• Destroy all volunteer tomato and potato plants.

Zucchini Relish

 

This time of year there is usually an abundance of zucchini with drop offs at the local mailboxes or post office.  There are so many ways to preserve zucchini that you can use as well a share will others. 

Harvesting

I think more zucchini would be eaten and used if it was picked at the proper time.  You want small or medium size zucchini.  The skins should not be hard but soft.  At this stage the seeds are small and few.  As the zucchini ages it produces more seeds, seeds enlarge,  and skins harden in order to produce viable seeds. These a best feed to chickens or pigs unless you are saving seeds.  For cooking and preserving and for breads pick them small.

Zucchini Relish

This recipe is similar to my Sweet Pickle Relish but with less sugar.  There are lots of ways to use the relish.  Some of our favorites are mixed in with tuna or a chicken sandwich, mixed in macaroni or potato salad, on crackers with sliced cheese, and on hamburgers or hots dogs. Perhaps later I will share my macaroni and potato salad recipes they are always a favorite. You can double, triple or quadruple this recipe.

2 cups chopped zucchini (3 medium zucchini)

1 cup chopped onion (1 medium onion)

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

2 TBS pickling salt not table salt

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

1 cup cider vinegar 5%acidity

Pickle crisp (optional)

Distilled water

Prep:

Wash produce. I use a veggie and onion chopper for the zucchini, onions, and peppers.  This makes nice diced pieces and is quick. 

Combine chopped zucchini, red and green peppers, and onions in a large bowl.  Sprinkle pickling salt over the veggies. Pour distilled water over the veggies until covered.  Let it stand for 2 hours.

Drain and rinse with cold water to remove salt.

Coook:

Combine sugar, spices, and vinegar in a large saucepan.  Bring mixture to a simmer.  180 F Add drained vegetables; simmer for 10 minutes.  Always use stainless steel when making pickling products.

Fill:

 Add 1/16th tsp Pickle Crisp to half-pint jars, 1/8 tsp in pint jars. 

Pack hot relish into clean jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. 

Remove air bubbles

Clean jar rim.  Place on the rack elevated over simmering water in a boiling water canner.

After all jars are filled lower rack into canner.

Process:

Water must cover the jars by 1 inch.  cover canner and bring to a full rolling boil.  

half pints 10 minutes, pints 15 minutes  add 10 minutes for high altitude.  

In New Harmony you must add 10 minutes.

When time is complete remove the lid of the canner.  Leave jars in canner with the lid off for 10 minutes then remove the jars.  Let jars set and seal.  When cool remove the rings, label, and store. 

(Recipe from Ball Blue Book)

 

Boiling Water Canner Altitude Adjustments

Because barometric pressure is reduced at high altitudes it affects the temperature at which water boils.  To ensure safety you MUST adjust the canning time.

Altitude in Feet                    Increase Processing Time

1,001-3000                                   5 minutes

3,001- 6,000                               10 minutes

6,001- 8,000                               15 minutes

8,001-10,000                              20 minutes