15 Things You Can Do in February to Prep for Your Gardening Year
Traditionally, Winter is the time for taking stock of the past year, planning, repairing, resting, and home-crafting. Quilts were made, socks knitted, harnesses repaired and replaced, meals were cooked slowly over the fire, and children were taught home crafts. Food stores were carefully monitored while meat was enjoyed from the smokehouse or cold attic.
We are expecting ice and snow in a few days and are doing as many outside chores a possible. Bob has been bringing in firewood while I am baking bread and working on projects. I’ve done a bit of canning – we have meat in the freezer which needs done.
We are also planning for the upcoming summer. Gardening begins in earnest in just a few weeks. We start most of our plants from seed because it gives us the most variety and choice. Many commercial greenhouses carry a few popular types of tomatoes and peppers but I usually can’t find the specific one I want. So, we grow our own. We’ve made a small investment in some grow lights and heat pads last year and it paid off with an abundant plant crop. Bob was even able to grow pepper varieties – usually difficult because of their requirement for warm roots. The heat pads worked perfectly.
Even though there is a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way, there are things you can do now to prep for the beginning of gardening season. Here are 15 ideas to get you motivated for spring:
1. Organize your pantry. Take some time to see what you have left on the shelf from last year’s canning marathons; how much more you will need to finish off the year (we are about half-way through the food storage year); how much more, or less, you need to can next season; what varieties worked best, stored best, tasted best, and what you don’t like.
This inventory will give you a solid idea what your garden should look like. For example, I only need to can green beans every other year. I’ll grow enough to eat fresh and freeze, but I can give up some garden space for another vegetable this year.
2. Order your seeds. We have a few sources for seeds. Baker Creek Seeds (rareseed.com), Select Seeds (selectseeds.com), Livingstone Seed (livingstoneseed.com) and Berlin Seeds (5335 Co Hwy 77, Millersburg, OH 44654) are all reliable sources with consistent germination of their seeds.
3. Disinfect your planting trays if you are reusing them. Dip them in a bleach solution and let them air-dry. This will kill molds and bacteria that could damage new plants.
4. Select your potting soil. I took Ohio Extension Services Master Gardener program and one of the soils they recommend is Happy Frog. As Bob said, it feels like good compost when you reach into the bag. Rural King and Amazon carry it. I just like the bags!
Happy Frog is the best. Amazon sells it, but you can find it for much less at Rural King.
5. Determine when you should start your seeds. Let’s say you want to start harvesting your canning tomatoes around July 20th. You want to plant seeds about 120 days before you plan to harvest. You must take germination time into account as well as ripening of the fruit. According to Johnny’s Seeds, tomatoes take 35 – 56 days from seed to transplant and 50-85 days from transplanting to harvest. (Here is their seed to harvest worksheet for most common garden vegetables - https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/vegetables/vegetables-transplanted-crop-plant-quantity-yield-chart-pdf.html)
6. Improve your garden soil in the winter – you can apply livestock manure right on top of the snow in your garden. As the snow melts, minerals and nutrients are carried into the garden bed. Farmers have known this for years, spreading manure on the frozen fields.
7. Don’t let your wood ashes go to waste. Spread cooled wood ashes from your fireplace onto your garden beds, too. 2 pounds of ashes replace 1 pound of lime. (However, don’t use the ashes from walnut firewood – it contains tannins which inhibit plant growth.)
8. Look at your supply of canning jars, lids, and rings. Be sure to order your supplies early this year. In 2020, canning jars were nearly impossible to find in stores. They are reusable, so you may only need a few dozen to round out your stores. I always buy some new jars to replace ones which become chipped or broken. It’s a good idea to put the word out that you are looking for canning jars. A friend of my sister was cleaning out the home of a family member and had 8 boxes of quart canning jars she didn’t want. Some of them weren’t even used. That was the score of the day!
Prices on canning jars went way up last year. Be sure to get yours early. Pick up some extra lids at the same time. I only buy wide mouth jars unless none are available. Rural King, Walmart, Tractor Supply also carry them. We bought them through a local bulk food store.
9. On a warmer, dry winter day clean out your berry and perennial beds. Ideally this is done in the Fall, but we don’t always get to it before the weather changes. We had a week of warm, sunny weather in December and pulled up weeds, burned off dry brush and got things ready for spring.
10. Use the warmer weather to collect a soil sample of your garden. Penn State has a testing center, as do other state university agricultural colleges. Contact your local county extension service for a soil sample collection bag. Remember to dry your soil completely before mailing it. There is no reason to pay to mail water.
11. Get a water barrel/collection system ready to hook-up. Bob set up a water collection tank during the warmer weather. I am ready for spring rains, collecting soft rainwater.
This is the diverter system we installed. It diverts the water into a 250 gallon tank. I'm excited about having rain water for washing. Our well water is so hard and rusty.
12. Plan your garden beds. You should rotate your garden plants each season. This will stop insect infestations, limit vegetable diseases and support your garden fertility. Nightshades (tomatoes, peppers) should not follow each other in the rotation. Move the nightshades to another area and plant a legume there, instead. Legumes (beans/peas) will fix nitrogen in your soil.
13. Consider companion plantings. Years ago, I read a book called Carrots Love Tomatoes which said some plants just do better when planted alongside other specific plants. On the flip side, some plants grow poorly together. For example, peppers grow well with onions and basil, but not so well with beans. Here is a link to a simple to read chart with recommendations: https://www.thespruce.com/companion-planting-with-chart-5025124
Carrots Love Tomatoes is a classic, but you can also find companion planting information online.
14. Use YouTube. Bob will watch videos about planting vegetables he isn’t familiar with or new techniques he wants to try. He learned to grow sweet potato slips and elderberry cuttings this way. YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. One caveat – watch more than one video and look for consistent advice. Just because someone made a video does not mean they are an expert.
15. Think about using GeoTech cloth or other alternative planting method to minimize weeds and work. We put heavy GeoTech cloth down around the tomato and pepper plants. It was wonderful – very few weeds, easy to directly water the plants, tomatoes didn’t lay in the dirt. We laid out the cloth, secured it to the sides of the wooden beds, and cut holes for the plants. Other alternative planting methods are canvas or fiber bags(used feed sacks), container plantings, barrel plantings.
Now that your garden is planned and you have seeds ordered, let’s do some off-season canning.
“Say, WHAT?!??!?”
Yep. Off-season canning is something I have been doing for many years. It all started in an August long ago, when I just could not raise the temperature in my old kitchen another degree without melting the countertops. The house was situated poorly with the unrelenting, afternoon summer sun pouring through the windows just as I was making supper. There was very little cross-breeze and it was so stinking hot.
Bob and the kids spent hours picking black raspberries and blackberries so I could make jam….but I didn’t want to make jam in that heat. (Can you hear me whining?)
I decided to rinse, dry and freeze the berries and then make jam in January when I would appreciate a nice warm kitchen. I’d pop a batch of oatmeal bread sweetened with maple syrup in the oven and start the jam. By the time the first batch was done, the bread had baked and cooled. We enjoyed a cozy farmhouse snack. The jam tasted just as good – maybe better because I wasn’t being a fuss-budget about making it.
I started doing more canning in the late Fall and Winter, even applesauce and beef cubes (but not together). We are able to buy a mixed bushel of ‘seconds’ from a local orchard. These are apples which are irregularly shaped, or too small for the standard of the orchard. The men at the orchard mix at least 3 varieties for me, one of them said he mixed it how his mother likes it, some sweet, some tart, some crispy. I only buy a bushel at a time so they don’t turn nasty before I can get the sauce made. Note: Yes, we have young fruit trees, however; the grandkids summer-graze our gardens, fruit trees and berry patches and we need to purchase additional fruits and produce.
The beef cubes are from a steer we had butchered last Spring. I asked the butcher to give me beef cubes in 10# vacuum packages instead of cuts of roasts. He was happy to do it and I have been pressure canning the cubes one bag at a time (there were 6 bags after butchering). I finished the last bag today. I’m starting the second batch in the pressure canner now. The first batch looks great.
Some other food stuffs I have off-season canned are:
boneless chicken breasts – on sale for $1.00 / pound after the Super Bowl last year,
baked beans made with Bob’s extra dark maple syrup,
pickled asparagus – on sale for $0.99/pound fresh,
homemade soups – I’ll make a large batch and can 3 or 4 quarts after we have dinner, clementine oranges – I put them into ½ pint jars and a light sugar syrup,
turkey - on sale after Christmas,
ground sausage – lightly browned and then pressure canned,
ground beef – done the same way,
sweet cherries – a 20# box was a surprise find on a trip to Amish country,
deer – cubes and ground.
The book on the far left is the USDA Canning Guide. It contains canning recipes that are basic but delicious. It had my maple-syrup baked bean recipe which it amazing. Not as glossy as the Ball Blue Book, but a gem, none the less.
I never really pack up my canning tools. I am able to tuck both of my canners under a work table in the kitchen so I can pull them out when the need arises. I do both pressure canning and water bath. Pressure canning is for anything that is low-acid, including meat, most vegetables, beans, soups and more. Water bath is for acidic foods, such as pickled products (if you used a high-vinegar brine), most fruits, heavily sweetened foods (jams/jellies).
Pressure canning is not hard, nor is it dangerous. The reason to pressure can items which are low-acid is to inhibit the growth of certain bacteria which are able to survive at temperatures up to 212° F. Of most concern is the clostridium genus, which has a hard, protective case surrounding the cell. The case is not damaged until temperatures get well above 212°F. The only way to destroy the cell is to damage the case.
You can boil those green beans until the cows come home, but the temperature of your water bath will neverget higher that 212° and your clostridium will survive, growing in that nice organic petri dish you put on the pantry shelf.
A pressure canner raises the temperature to around 250° and clostridium won’t survive that. Your food is safe on the shelf as long as your seal is intact. Use only canning jars when pressure canning. Save the mayonnaise jars for water bath canning. Canning jars have thicker walls and are designed to withstand the heat and pressure. Nothing is worse than having an entire quart of meat ruined by a broken jar. (OK – there are things worse, but not after canning for hours in a hot kitchen.)
When you use an Instant Pot, you are pressure cooking. Higher temps and pressure produce a rapidly cooked and softened food. Pressure canning does the same thing but you are taking an extra step to seal it in an airtight jar.
Sourdough Bread
We are preppers. Bob and I believe it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves and our family as much as possible if a natural or manmade disaster would occur. We plan for bad weather. We plant a garden to provide food during the year. We raise animals. We heat with wood and stay cool without air conditioning. Even as we get older, we have made modifications so we can continue this lifestyle as long as possible.
We also play ‘war games’ with family members. “If situation xyz happens, what will we do?” During one of the war games a questions was asked, “how will you bake bread when you run out of yeast?”
OK, not your average card game, there are at least 9 editions of this card game. Each card has a scenario describing a disaster situation and asks, "What would you do?" Some of the scenarios are quite gruesome - this isn't a game to play with young children, but might be interesting with your teenagers.
Great question. The answer is Sourdough Bread.
Sourdough is made from yeast, flour, and water. Some recipes call for additional or different ingredient, such as yogurt, honey, and even wild-caught yeast.
You use these ‘starter’ ingredients to make a sponge, which is just a runny dough/batter, which sits at room temperature while it matures. Over time the starter takes on a delightful sour odor, is full of bubbles and life. When you want to make bread, you remove a portion of the starter. You add flour and water back into the starter batter, give it a stir and let it grow some more. If you care for it, use it regularly, and feed it with flour and water, you will never need to add yeast to it again.
My sourdough starter is only a few weeks old but is already giving me delicious, crusty bread.
Another PLUS for sourdough bread is it is more forgiving as you let the dough rest and the formed loave raise – if you get busy or distracted, the dough just raises and becomes more wonderful. It seldom over-raises and collapses.
Some starters have been in families for generations. Each starter gradually takes on its own personality. Some folks even name their starters.
Once you have your portion of starter in the bread-making bowl, you add flour and any additional ingredients you wish. Again, different recipes call for different ingredients.
I’ll share a recipe from Amy Dacyczyn from The Tightwad Gazette. It is basic and makes absolutely delicious bread with a nice crunchy crust.
You can use your sourdough starter to make pancakes without baking powder/soda, waffles, rolls, and much more.
This is called Brad’s Sourdough Bread Recipe after a friend of Amy Dacyczyn. He made the bread regularly and it is closest ever to a true San Francisco sourdough.
Sourdough Starter
2 c. white flour
2 c. water (unchlorinated)
1 T. yeast
Mix well in plastic, glass, or stainless-steel bowl or container. You need a loose-fitting lid. I use a heavy plastic cereal storage container from Dollar General.
Allow the starter to sit for at least 48 hours at room temperature. It should become bubbly and have a nice ‘sour’ smell to it at the end of this time. (note: I have had problems mixing up a new starter in the summer when my kitchen is very warm. It does better in the frig or other cool place.)
If at any time your starter begins to turn pink, green, blue, or any other odd color, you need to pitch it. This means it has become contaminated by a not-so-friendly wild yeast or bacteria. Wash everything very well. Let dry and then start again.
Once the starter is foamy, sour and alive, you can start using it.
The ingredients and directions to make two loaves of bread follows: 5 ½ cups white/unbleached wheat flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour for 1 or 2 cups) 2 cups starter 1 tablespoon salt 1 cup water Dissolve the salt in the water in a mixing bowl. (Some sourdough cookbooks say not to use a metal bowl, but I’ve been mixing the dough in the metal bowl with my Kitchenaid mixer and never had a problem.) Add the starter and then the flour. Stir and knead into a ball. Cover with a damp towel and let rise overnight. The next morning, punch the risen dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a round loaf, make an X slashed on each top, and place the two loaves on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise at room temperature for about 4 hours. Place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Bake the bread for 35 minutes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each time you remove some starter, you must “feed” it. Just add back 1 ½ cups water and 1 ½ cups flour, stir, cover loosely, and return starter to refrigerator. You can use your starter fresh from the fridge for several weeks. When the bread rises slower, then take the starter and set it out on the fridge overnight to ferment. Success with Sourdough bread happens when you bake this type of bread twice a week therefore you are feeding the starter often.
(From The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn)
There are ways to catch wild yeast, too. Mix the flour and water and cover with loosely woven material – one layer of slightly damp cheese cloth works well. Allow to sit out on the counter until it becomes bubbly and has that unique sour smell. It may take several days. Some homesteaders recommend using rye flour as your base flour when starting a wild yeast sourdough starter – it seems to have an affinity for the yeast.
If you would like to use wild yeast but are not sure if you feel comfortable doing so, realize that over time, your store-bought yeast sourdough starter will become inoculated with the wild yeast in your home and you will have your own unique starter.
Good luck and enjoy that bread! (Try it toasted.)
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I want to share one more thing.
I read an article which really pierced my heart and I would like to share it with you.
In the article the author, Sheryl Zeiset, talked about all the times we say, “I’ll try.” Especially when I have been challenged in some way – to exercise, eat right, read my Bible, pray for others. Usually I’ll say, “I’m really going to try to ______” I mean it at the time and my heart may be in the right place.
But doesn’t that statement give me an ‘OUT’?
“I tried but it didn’t work out.”
“I got busy.”
“Bob started a project and needed help.”
Contrast that with what David says, repeatedly, in the Psalms:
“I will go in the strength of the Lord God.” Psalm 71:16
“I will keep my mouth with a bridle.” Psalm 39:1
“I will not fear what flesh can do to me.” Psalm 56:4
He didn’t say he was going to give it the old college try. He said that he would do it.
No excuses.
No wishy-washy efforts.
Do it.
Don’t we all need that Word today?
Zeiset, S. (2020, Dec.) I Will. The Heartbeat of the Remnant, vol 24 (4), 12-13
Have a great day.
Stay Safe!
Polly
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