To: trsinc

Canning is not difficult or hard to learn. Pressure canners come with helpful booklets and some recipes. There are numerous websites you where you can read about canning and you can ask questions here. :)

There are whole books written on the subject, and I reckon a visit to your local library would yield up lots of information for you. You see, your question is so BIG, covers so much, that it's a bit like asking 'how long is a piece of string?'.

It would be easier to narrow things down a little to specific herbs or veges or fruit. Most recipes will tell you whether to choose 'fully ripe' or 'half-ripe' fruit for making jams.

There are optimum times for harvesting herbs if they are to be used for medicinal purposes - there are very few rules of thumb. Some are best harvested before flowering, others during flowering, others when the tops die down - blah blah.

So - choose a selection of what you want to preserve and we can get down to business. Don't make the list too long, or it becomes too cumbersome for everybody to deal with.

Here is advice on when to harvest 3 herbs, just to show you how things can vary:

Lemon Balm: Pick leaves throughout the summer for fresh use. Collect in the late afternoon, when aroma is best. For drying, pick just before the flowers begin to open when flavour is best, being careful not to bruise them, and leaving about 8cm of the stem above the ground. Dry quickly and gently without heat. It does not store well.

Basil: Pick leaves when young and always from the top to encourage new growth. Best flavour is obtained if the leaves are cut as the flower buds show and if flowerheads are continually removed.

Thyme: Leaves can be harvested for fresh use throughout the summer but the flavour is best just before flowering. To dry, cut the stems just as the flowers start to open and hang in small bunches. Harvest sparingly the first year.

Ok. Nevermind.

trsinc,

I know you said 'nevermind', but I think this post could be very interesting if you're still wanting to continue with it.

If I understood your post correctly, you're not really looking for 'technical' information - you're looking for tips and old wives tales that have been passed down through the ages that may have no scientific backing whatsoever, but the 'old folks' swear by.

If that's the case, I'd be happy to share. Thanks!
TL

Trsinc, your 'What are you Wives Tales for Harvesting?' actually made me chuckle. Last summer I had put together a posting on my blog showing my wife's 'thoughts' on my garden at harvest time. After reading past the title I realize that perhaps it's not what you had intended. Nonetheless, it's what came to mind...

Regarding the blog...A few gardenening buddies and I had this grandiose idea of puttting together our gardening blogs. This started out OK but lately, I've been a bit remiss in keeping it up.. one day I guess I'll get back to making a post.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Growing

Okay, here's one:

Somewhere I picked up the idea that after picking tomatoes you should put them on the windowsill (or counter or whatever) stem-side up to finish ripening because that's the way they grow. BUT they are never shipped or displayed that way. Doesn't anyone know if there is a "best" way

kayskats-

(First let me say I am not a tomato expert!) But I think you actually get better results ripening the tomatoes by putting them in a paper bag. I believe I read (or heard somewhere) that the ripening actually happens from the inside out, and the gases emitted by the tomato inside the bag help to ripen it.

Hey there, this is just what I meant... thanks. And joy, please do share whatever you would like.

LOL, grandad, it's wives tales, not wives complaints. :) I enjoyed your blog.

back to topic, I've always heard that bananas speed up the ripening process and to throw one in the paper bag with whatever you're trying to ripen. The stem up thing is new to me.

I found Daisy's comments very interesting (as far as I'm concerned she is the herb guru on this forum) ...
Some herbs you pick in the morning, some in the evening...(gotta get me a spread sheet).
Unfortunately, I never plan far enough ahead to morning-harvest what I'll need later -- heck I never have any idea what I'm cooking later. I just run out and cut whatever I need, whatever the time. They taste pretty good, but now I wonder what I'm missing. --Kay

My maternal grandfather's family ran a farm and a nursery and had many tips and tricks. Here are a few that I remember:

Nanny Kaye always said that greens (lettuce, chard, etc.) should be picked before the dew burned off in the morning.

Potatoes and other root veggies are best dug during the waning of the moon.

(Not exactly harvesting but)
To encourage growth prune during the waxing of the moon. To discourage growth prune during the waning of the moon.

Sun chokes are best harvested after the first frost.

My mom was told in no uncertain terms that green tomatoes are best picked in the morning, while ripe tomatoes taste best when picked warmed through by the sun. (Basically, in the afternoon of a warm, sunny day.)

Corn picked before dinner should eaten before the sun goes down. (Please note, dinner was the mid-day meal.)

Cukes are best picked after a good rain and thrown out after 2 days. Basically, Nanny felt that a 2 day old pickling cuke wasn't worth the effort. She said they turned "mealy" after 2 days.

For fruit with pits (peaches, plums and cherries): "The later the hour the lesser the sour." Can you tell I don't come from a line of English teachers?

We were always told to pick berries in the early morning. I have decided it was an attempt to get them before the birds did.

I'll try to remember more or ask my mom what she remembers.

okay, here's another ... if you want to make watermelon rind pickles, do it early in the season, because the rinds are thickest then.

Like whynotmi, my grandmother did most of her gardening around the phases of the moon. You can refer to the Farmers Almanac online for planting and harvesting guidelines according to moon phases. I never put too much thought into planting during the Almanac suggested times, I just plant when I have time and it's not deathly hot outside. Though I will say that I planted green beans during an Almanac 'unfavorable' time and have had to replant them (twice!)

Here's an old wives tale - have always wanted to know if anybody else has ever heard this. I've always been taught that you should not can, especially tomatoes, when pregnant or during 'that special time of the month'. (SORRY ;) Reason - jars won't seal properly. Several of the old folks around here swear by it. Anybody else ever heard such?

Well I don't have any harvesting tales but here's a few planting ones...

Plant corn when oak leaves are the size of squirrel ears.

Plant peas when forsythia blooms.

Plant potatoes when dandelions bloom.

I'd always heard to plant root plants (potatoes, beets, radishes, etc.) with the waning of the moon, and plant the above-ground ones (peas, beans, tomatoes, etc.) with the rising.

joy_unspeakable

My Aunt had 6 kids. She was pregnant many times and canned throughout her pregnancies. It had no effect on the canned food. That's a true "old wives tale." :) As the kids grew the 3 daughter's helped and I never heard a thing that a menstruating woman had an effect on canning or canned goods.

Here's my mom's favorite, it's a rhyme about picking winter squash: "Cut and lift, then you sift. Leave 'em in the sun or you won't have none." I had the immediate image of a huge squash in a little sand sifter like the ones that came with beach pails. But I was wrong. Sift means to clean the dirt off the squash without using water. Leaving them in the sun hardens them off for storage.

While they grew many flowers for the nursery she remembers 3 that were always included in the veggie patches: marigolds, geraniums and cosmos. The marigolds and geraniums were to keep bugs away and the cosmos were to attract bees and butterflies. She says that to this day she can't abide the smell of marigolds or geraniums.

Speaking of squash. To help keep them from rotting. Avoid bruising them as they are easy to bruise, even though they may have hard skins. I also mix a little bleach in water and wash them with that solution, as it kills off surface mold and will help reduce early spoilage. My favorites are buttercup types. The bleach solution got them to last a few more months stored in my cellar.

Love all the interesting tidbits. Thanks all for sharing.

whynotmi, you sure do have a good memory! I bet your mom and g'ma said each thing everytime they encountered the opportunity, didn't they?

Thanks again.

Thanks, though I actually don't remember hardly any of the things they used to day.

Each year the entire extended family got together to do certain things like pot up geraniums, seed flats and set up and tear down the sales area for the season. During those times lots of stories were told. The summer I was 8 I lived on the farm. It was a magical experience for a city boy. Of course, I was spoiled rotten by my Great-Grandmother, Great Uncle and Great Aunt who ran the farm. Being a somewhat unusual child, I was also quite content to listen to their stories rather than watch TV. I still don't care much for TV and I haven't had one in over 12 years.

trsinc, I always heard the same thing you did about hastening the ripening of other fruit only with an apple instead of a banana. Also, a lot of the people I know plant their potatoes on St. Patrick's Day. I too had heard to plant French marigolds in your garden as they repelled bugs and rabbits - they don't like the smell any more than whynotmi's mother. This is a fun thread, thanks for starting it.

Plant peas on President's Day.

Deanna

Adding some acid blend to my jams. They are sometimes not as flavorful if I use a sweeter like Splenda, so I add extra acid of which is malic, tarteric, and citric.

The fertility/canning taboo is new to me, pretty neat, but fertility taboos are common in cultures around the world. In a Mayan literature class, I learned that pregnant women are not allowed to work in the fields. I believe this was because their growing bodies would steal nutrients or life from the growing plants, but I might have added that interpretation myself. Also, women are not allowed to step over tools, they have to walk around them. I hate to give such a vague recounting, but I can't remember which specific ethnic/language groups I learned this about, sorry...the ones we discussed most were the Kaqchikel, Q'anjob'al, Quiche, and Popb'alti'.

Melissa

Don't want to talk about religion, but in the Hebrew culture, they do not eat pork, or shellfish. Way back people died from 'red tide' and tainted shellfish, and tricanosis from pork. Today, these taboos are still in effect, and have been for many centuries.

Thanks again, everyone. I like hearing about the different cultural "tips" as well! :)

Since noone has mentioned the cucumber thing... I know, I've got cukes on the brain right now... About 15 years ago I read in Gourmet Magazine about a technique of cutting cucumbers that decreases the bitterness. I always do this now and hadn't thought of it, as a tip or tale, until I just ran across someone mentioning it on the veg forum. Anyway, what you do is cut the end off of the cuke, then rub the cut piece against the whole cuke in a vigorous circular motion until you have a foamy substance. Cut another narrow slice off of the same end to remove the foam. Repeat on the other side.

This really seems to work for me. I've had very few bitter cukes and when I have it is usually when I've not worked it up into a foam.

Another thing, which I wonder about... My mother always says that my paternal grandmother said to plant beans in the DARK of the moon. That seems strange to me because beans are an above ground crop (if you follow the whole Farmer's Almanac thing). But, it does leave me to wonder if it fixes nitrogen in the soil better or something? Has anyone else ever heard this? I, for one, cannot grow beans to save my life. If they survive they produce very few. Next year I'll pay attention to the moon.

Thanks again, everyone for sharing.

And, ks, I understand about the red tide. I used to live in Corpus Christi, TX and we had dead fish washing up everywhere. People were warned away from even sun bathing on the beach because it could cause respiratory problems. I lived there for 3 years and at least one year plus, maybe, we had the tide (in months added up together).

The 'cuke rubbing'technique was one my grandmother used to do. It was not to remove the bitterness howevber, it was just an indiator that the cuke may be bitter without having to endure tasting it. She cut small ends off both ends and rubbed them a few seconds. If there was a white substance, she would not use the cuke, or would set it aside until she was finished packing the pickle jars. Usually, the bitter ones show up in the early stages of plant growh and don't usually show up later on. In most cases, most all stems of cukes contain this bitter substance, and only a few seem to get it absorbed into the cuke itself. I made an early batch of B&B pickles and a couple of bitter ones escaped me. It was not a pleasent tasing B&B batch even it you only enountered a couple of bitter slices!
We have red tide here now, again, and its shut down all clams and coastal fishing.