What is the best way to dry flowers? Answer : As well as which plants are best for each method: glycerin method and instructions Microwave method and instructions silica gel method and instructions air drying method and instructions other methods? What is the best method to press flowers? Answers Info on flower presses Info on pressing in books Other methods? Info on which paper to press with.... blotting paper etc. Info on how to seal pressed flowers, wax laminate etc. What are some of the most popular flowers for drying? Info on how to preserve your dried pressed flowers the longest..... i.e. keep away from light etc.

I've used wallpaper or scrapbooking paper attached with a glue stick to tag board cut to size. I bought some matting board on Ebay and that works great. Our church sponsored a tour of gardens this summer along with a craft sale. I took an old hymnal and took familiar songs, burned around the edges (some left plain) and mounted it on the backing and glued dried flowers around the song. They were a big hit. Used 8x10 frames.

Well, that's awsome to know about the 'kraut, Connie. I'm not going to get to it this year, but if I can outsmart the cutworms next year I think I'll give it a go. Tell me...how on earth do you find time for all your preserving and gardening this time of year with cows and kids?! I don't have kids yet and spring and fall seem to stretch my limits! Seems like nothings ready until its the very end of the short season. Been busy hauling in bales for us and the neighbor this past week. She's a slave driver! DH finally clued in and got supper last night and timed it just right so it was hot when I got home. They can be so sweet sometimes. Sigh. Got my turnips canned up last week. 28 pints. I don't think I'll bother growing them next year, should be enough for awhile! The biggest one was 4Lbs! Not sure how that compares in the history of big turnips, but its a whopper for me! Weighed a beet last night, too...2.5Lbs. A real doosy! Not sure if I'm supposed to be letting them get that big or not :^( I guess I'll see when I taste it. Anyhoo, tried a jar of turnips and they stayed firm. I thought they might go too soft. How much frost will beets take if the top of the root is exposed? Without a cellar I tend to leave things out as long as I can get away with it. I pulled a bunch of the Cylindras last night because its fr****ing most nights now (s*** this am!) and they push out of the ground so much, I wasn't sure if they'd get touched or not. I've been kind of hilling them but with it being so dry the soil doesn't want to stay very well. Happy Fall! Toots Verena, speaking of hunting...when I was out early this am I heard an elk bugle and was laughing because it sounded so fake to me and was picturing a hunter freezing his b*tt off in the woods tryin to blow his/her bugle in the snow. DH couldn't resist and he went down to check it out and just about walked into a bull standing there bugling. Maybe he was a young one just practising. I guess this weather has got them out looking for company. Do you ever go elk hunting? This is my very favorite time of year too. Looks like we'll get a good fall color show this year, too.

Eileen, all you have to do is pick all your green ones, bring them in the house and they will all ripen/turn red. You can also pull the whole plant out of the ground and hang it in a garage or barn and they will all continue to ripen. To encourage ripening on the vine outside, discontinue watering. I don't know if you could dry green ones (can't see why not) but they sure would be bitter and I don't know what you would use them for. You could use fresh green ones for salsa verde or fried green tomatoes. Earl, smaller types I slice length wise. Bigger types, stem end down to bottom. I grow only paste types so few seeds, which I remove most of. If you are using tom's with a lot of seeds, you should probably remove them as they get pretty bitter. And I know seeding tomatoes (other than in a squeezo or something) is a huge pain-in-the-butt! Cutting slices that are the same thickness is important because then your slices will dry at a similar rate of speed and you don't have to keep picking through the trays on the dehydrator taking out the ones that dried the quickest. Also, I have a commercial dehydrator so mine has 1/2" metal squares. I spray the trays with pam to avoid sticking. Most home dehydrators have teflon trays but if not, the Pam works really well.