Well I have 25 pounds of Kosher Dills doing their thing in 2 different stone crocks slowly fermenting away. I am fixing to start making cucumber relish some sweet and some spicy. ajsmama thanx for the link,looks like it will be an interesting read. Dave I saw most of those recipes and they weren't what I was looking for. I never even heard of the NCHFP. But than I am new to gardening and even newer to canning so that shouldn't be much of a surprise. I thank you for that link and I have bookmarked it for future use. akRoach I have also bookmarked your link for future use also thank you for it. Carol your link has also been saved so that I can explore it later on. I want to thank all of you for your replies and links, I am slowly learning there is much MUCH more for me to learn and I appreciate any and all help that is passed on to me on that road. As I tell people all the time "I know just enough to be dangerous to myself".

Welcome Charlene! Your garden sounds so nice. And your pickles are fine, but I'll go point-by-point to make sure I hit all the important stuff. "-We ran them through the dishwasher" Good, you need clean jars, and they are less likely to break if they are hot when you pour in the brine. "-We brought to a low boil simmer:" Fine. You can also find brines that have some water to make the pickles less tart, but you want to use a tested recipe that is at least 50% vinegar. I would skip the alum. It's a form of aluminum, which is not great to ingest. Next time you can use Pickle Crisp, which is calcium chloride powder to add to each jar; it's sold at Walmart near the canning jars. But alum would not stop me from eating this batch of pickles. "we did not use tongs or anything just used our hands." I always pack jars with clean hands. "BUT we ran out of the vinegar solution" As long as the recipe didn't say to boil the brine for x minutes before using, you are fine. You did right using the same ingredients. The only danger in waiting to fill the last two jars is if they get cold, the hot brine may cause thermal shock & break the jars, which obviously didn't happen. "-We put the cap w/rubber seal and screwed the tops on tight from the dishwasher" This is ok for fridge pickles. When you can in a boiling water bath, you will want to put the tops on "fingertip tight," in other words using your fingertips & turning just until you meet resistance. This leaves room for the air to expand out of the jar, which creates a vacuum seal upon cooling. "-Let them sit out for two hours to room temperature" This is ok too. Normally you want to get food cold asap to avoid bacterial growth, but for pickles it's probably not a huge deal. If you do put them straight in the fridge, you should go for rack-bottom shelf, not a flat glass shelf which will speed heat transfer from the bottom & possibly cause breakage (brine in the fridge is a nightmare, I can tell you that from personal experience). You are right that fridge pickle jars do not seal. They will be crisper than pickles that have been heated in a boiling water bath. So, the things I would change for next time are the alum and the time between filling & refrigerating. Also, I prefer to use a tested recipe from the Ball Blue Book, from the USDA, or from a forum member who gives the recipe's credentials. About the two months...I sometimes keep things way longer than I'm supposed to. Pickles are one of the safest products to can as long as you use enough vinegar, which you did. Personally I wouldn't choose to give them away after the "expiration date," but I would keep eating them until they were finished, or until they showed signs of spoilage like unusually soft or slimy pickles, mold floating in jars, bad smell. Open kettle canning is when you start out like you did, but then you put the jars on the shelf instead of in the fridge. It is no longer recommended by the USDA for any products. There are people who still do it, but I think it's best not to do it unless a person has a lot of experience and can really predict how that will affect the food (e.g., for jam, you will notice if it gets moldy, but other foods may be more sneaky about spoiling). A few other notes about pickles: as long as you have 50% vinegar, you can add whatever spices you like (but adding 1/4 cup of dill might count as another vegetable instead of a spice!). Other vegetables may need more vinegar, e.g. garlic must be pickled in 100% vinegar. Some recipes can be processed for longer times at 180F to try to make them less soft than boiling (known as low-temperature pasteurization), but make sure the recipe is approved for this method. Here is a link to a discussion of pickles that has a few different recipes and a discussion of fridge pickles. Enjoy your pickles and the time with your son! Melissa

Only tip I have is to remember to adjust for altitude :-). First jam I ever made was with a couple bags of mixed berries from the frozen food section, box of SureJell pectin and sugar using the recipe in the pectin package. With fresh peaches don't forget the fruit fresh (or vitamin C). I want to try the habanero gold jelly recipe.over on harvest and try canning peaches. I just need to coordinate my free time. Mary - Is it anything like this one from the Harvest forum Apricot-Pineapple Conserve 1 1/2 cups finely chopped dried apricots 1/2 cup golden raisins 1 1/4 cup strained fresh orange juice 2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice 1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (or more, to taste) 4 cups sugar 1/2 cup sliced almonds (I omitted) 1 (3 oz) pouch liquid pectin In stainless or enamel pan, mix apricots, raisins, orange juice, and lemon juice. Let stand 2 hours. Add undrained pineapple and orange zest. Stir in sugar. Heat stirring constantly till the sugar dissolves. Stir in almonds. Increase heat and bring to a full boil. Stir in pectin and return to a boil, stirring. Boil, 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim foam. Allow conserve to cool about 5 minutes to keep fruit from floating. Stir gently to distribute the fruit. Put into jars (makes 6 half pints.) Leave 1/4 inch headspace. Cover with hot lids and process half pints in bwb for 10 minutes, or 15 minutes for pints. Below is a link to Splenda's Jam recipes. Another option is to use Pomona's pectin (I haven't used it, but it will apparently gel anything and you can use as little sugar as you want or use a sugar substitute like Splenda) We need a canning party! jen Here is a link that might be useful: Splenda Jam recipes

Flowers looks perfectly normal. When they pollinated, this tiny cucumbers will grow, and flower will wilt and fell off . If they are not pollinated, the tiny cucumbers will turn yellow and eventually fell off. If you have at least one male flower(the one without a cucumber on it), you can hand pollinate. To encourage plants to go up the trellis, I would take some ropes, and add additional verticals to your trellis. Finish it it with a staple that you can stick in the soil near the side shoots, so they can grab on the rope. Keep in mind, that shoots are always go more vigorously to south-east(or to the sunny side, if you have shade around them), so if your trellis are on their way, they will climb up, if not - you need to lead them there.