The most important part is choosing the right fruit. For peaches and nectarines your choice should be a “freestone” or “cling-free” variety, which means the fruit will separate easily from the pit. Not only does this mean more fruit to can, but it means a lot less work. The fruit should be mature and ripe, the same quality as what you would want to eat when fresh. When you open that jar in the wintertime, you want to have that summertime taste of the highest quality fruits.

You can pick your own or buy them, but when it comes to buying I would suggest a Farmer’s Market where you can buy larger quantities at really reasonable prices. It will take about 5 medium-sized peaches or 10-plums to fill a quart jar. Cherries, of course, will be a different story. The fruit averages out to about 2.5 pounds per quart jar.

Before getting started, I always like to have everything that I’ll need within arm’s reach. During the canning season I never even put my canning stuff away. It sits on a table, just for that purpose, and for each project I can select what I’ll need, moving it to my kitchen counter. I even have my canning spices there.

For these fruits you can use a plain water-bath canner as opposed to a pressure canner, but if you are buying one for the first time, I would recommend one that you can use both ways. Our Presto® canners are like getting two for the price of one.

You can use your choice of light, medium, or heavy sugar syrup, or you can use fruit juices, such as apple or white grape when canning any of these fruits. You can also use Splenda artificial sweetener or a mixture of part sugar and part Splenda.

• Light Syrup: 2 cups sugar & 6 cups water yields 7 cups syrup.
• Medium Syrup: 3 cups sugar & 6 cups water yields 6.5 cups syrup.
• Heavy Syrup: 4 cups sugar & 6 cups water yields 7 cups syrup.

You can also use plain water. Splenda syrup requires 1/4 cup Splenda to 7 cups water. When using fruit juice, use 7 cups fruit juice. You can also make a reduced calorie fruit juice by using 4 cups water and 3 cups fruit juice. Very light syrup would be made by using 1 cup sugar to 7 cups water. You can experiment with a combination of any one of these in order to come up with your family’s favorite and one that meets your nutritional needs. The sweetness of the fruit may be a determining factor also.

To make the syrup, you just heat the water, adding the sugar slowly and stirring constantly to dissolve it. Bring the syrup to a gentle boil and then reduce the heat to keep it gently simmering, but not boiling. Be very careful you don’t splash the syrup mixture on you. It cools slowly and will burn hot if it splashes on your skin.

You should also have your jars ready. They should be washed with soap and hot water, even if they are brand new out-of-the-box. You don’t need to wash the lids (seals), as you will put them in a saucepan, bring the water to steaming and then reduce the heat to keep them hot. The screw-bands should be washed and both the bands and the jars should be checked for dents, chips, cracks and rust. Any of these conditions can cause breakage while canning or can cause the seal to fail, making your hard work a waste of time. You can buy jars used, but make sure to check them. They should appear new when washed and should definitely not have a white, calcified-looking stain. I like those rare garage sale finds of boxes of old canning jars that have never been used or that have been used gently. Some of them have a bluish or grayish tint to them and some of them are square and many have decorations or embellishments on the glass that you just won’t see today. I’ll always use those first and I always ask my friends and family to return my jars and bands when I have given them something. (I also don’t give out my “favorite” jars.) I’ve paid as little as $1 a box for 12 quart jars! That’s at least a $7.00 savings.

While putting the lids on to heat, you can also put on a large pot full of water and bring it to a boil. This will be used to remove the skins, a much easier process than peeling each fruit. You will probably not want to remove the skins on the cherries or plums and some people do not remove the skins from the nectarines. Some even leave the peach skins on, but I find them kind of slimy.

Once the jars are clean, they should be sterilized. You can either use the ‘sterilize’ setting on your dishwasher and then pull them out as you need them, or you can fill the jars with hot water and fill your canner with water to the top of the jars and bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat to keep them simmering. As you fill the jars you simply use a pair of tongs to pull the jars out, dumping the water back into the canner. The screw-bands can just be set aside and the lids (seals) put into a saucepan as described above. I used to wrangle the lids out with a fork or with a pair of tongs, but grabbing just one in this manner can be difficult and sometimes downright frustrating. I just recently bought my magnetic lid lifter and wonder how I ever lived without it. It’s cheap and so worth the price!

Now you’re making progress!

Thoroughly wash the fruit in either cold or lukewarm water. Now, use a slotted spoon or similar utensil to dip the fruit in boiling water for 20 to 45 seconds. You can do 4 or 5 at one time, but not more than that because you don’t want to cook them. Then as soon as you remove them from the boiling water, submerge them in a large bowl or pot of water with lots of ice in it. (Throughout the process you may have to replenish the ice often…you want this water to be really cold.) Let the fruit sit for several minutes in the ice water, so if you really want to speed things up, use two large containers for the ice and water bath. Now the skins will slide right off! At this point you can save the peach skins in the fridge and make peach honey if you are just enjoying this so much you can’t stop.

Cut out any brown or mushy spots, remove the pits and cut the fruit into halves, quarters or slices. Cherries and plums can be canned whole, but you’ll want to pit the cherries. We carry a Cherry Stoner that can process an amazing 30-pounds of cherries per hour. Peaches, pears and nectarines will turn brown with exposure to the air, so you can either sprinkle 1/4 cup lemon juice or use Mrs. Wages® Fresh Fruit Preserver to prevent browning and to preserve the flavor as you fill the bowl.

At this point you can make the choice whether to cold pack or hot pack. The only difference is that you put the fruit into the simmering syrup for five minutes before pulling it back out to put into your jars. Hot packed fruits are less likely to float and this process softens the fruit so it is a bit easier to pack into the jars. It will also help to reduce air bubbles. Peaches tend to retain air in their cells and this procedure allows the air to be released. Hot packing also tends to produce brighter, more intense colors. If you prefer to “raw-“ or “cold-pack”, then just skip this step.

Pack the fruit into pint or quart jars leaving 1/2 to 1-inch headspace, which is the space between the fruit and the top of the jar which allows for expansion during processing. Cover the fruit with the syrup mixture and then run a rubber spatula down between the jar and the fruit to help air bubbles rise. Tilting the jar slightly will help and gently pressing the spatula towards the center of the jar, pushing the fruit will also help this to happen. You’ll definitely want to use a jar funnel to pack the jars. The syrup is sticky and this can be a messy process. The jar funnel just makes getting the fruit from the pot or the bowl to the jar that much cleaner. If you pay attention, you will know at exactly what spot to stop on the inside of the funnel to give you the headspace you need. Once packed and the air bubbles worked out, you can top the jar off with the syrup, reducing the headspace to 1/2 inch. The fruit should be covered completely.

Use a clean, wet cloth to thoroughly wipe the rim and threads of the jars, place a lid on each one and finger-tighten the screw-band snugly, but not too tight. In the canner they should be covered with at least one inch of water and the timing should start when the water returns to a full boil. Your altitude will determine the processing time, but in general it will be 20 minutes at sea level and not more than 30 minutes. You can also process these in a pressure canner if you wish, but that is not a necessity. The processing time will drop to 10 minutes, but you should still use the guidelines for the pounds of pressure relative to the altitude at which you live.

Use a jar lifter to lift the jars out of the canner and place them on a towel, a jar rack or a thick layer of newspaper. As you start to lift them from the water bath, you may here that tell-tale metallic “pop” that means that the jars are sealing. It may sound silly, but this always makes me smile. Try not to bump them or knock them together and place them about an inch apart. Let them cool overnight and then verify the seal. The sealed jars will have a slightly concave circle in the middle of the lid and will not move when pushed gently with your finger. If the lid did not seal, the middle will be slightly convex and will pop up and down when pushed. You can also check the lids while the fruit is still hot, waiting about an hour to check them, and then immediately re-process the jar(s) for the same amount of time. You should replace the lid with a new lid and again wipe the rim and threads of the jar before putting it back into the hot water bath. You can also put the jar(s) in the fridge and use within a reasonable amount of time.

Once the jars are cooled you can removed the screw-bands, if you wish, label the jars or lids with the contents and the date and store them in a cool, dry, dark place. I prefer to leave them sit on the counter for a few days so that I can get more pleasure out of looking at the pretty jars. Canned goods from the grocery store just do not compare!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 8:53 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Most everyone that has pets, except those lucky enough to live in a flea-free zone, has had to deal with a flea infestation. Fleas can be difficult, though not impossible, to get rid of. Their life-cycle makes it possible for eggs to live in your carpet or fabrics for up to 200 days before becoming legless pupae. Then, the pupae can sit dormant for more than a year before growing into an adult. What does this mean to you? Well, eggs can accumulate over time, and then when the conditions are just right, transform into a huge infestation in a very short amount of time.

There are tons of flea products on the market. You can buy powders, foggers and sprays for your yard, your house and your pets. There are also any numbers of flea solutions on the market for your pets, from shampoos to collars to oily treatments that only require application once a month. The down side is that each pet will react differently and that many of these so-called solutions only work for a limited time and can be very toxic, not only to your pet, but to your family. Flea collars, for instance, give off an invisible and mostly non-odorous fume that has even been known to cause illness with regular exposure. You also need to use different products for cats than for dogs. What is supposed to be “safe” for a dog can kill a cat.

The other side of flea elimination is that you have to treat the environment as well as the pet. For example, you can steam clean your carpets and furniture to kill the fleas and the eggs, but the minute your pets venture outside, they are going to pick up more fleas and the cycle starts all over again. You also have to take into consideration your pets’ bedding and places they like to hang out, like under your bed. When treating for fleas, almost all of this needs to be done simultaneously.

When it comes to your pets, though there are tons of shampoos on the market, mild soap and water will work just fine. Soap will kill the eggs and the adults and the larvae and will probably not irritate your pets’ skin…or yours. You can choose a “nice smelling” soap, or one that is odorless and you don’t have to spend a fortune on it. In fact, we carry a number of very inexpensive and nice smelling doggie shampoos with conditioners that won’t break the bank but will leave your K9 friend smelling nice and with a well-conditioned skin and coat. We also sell an organic pet dip that will do the job. Then, once you have bathed your pet, isolate him or her to one area of the house, or even in a crate while you do the rest. But, make sure their bedding material has been washed in detergent and water before putting them in a crate or in a room with their bedding. The soap and water will kill on contact but has no residual effect, which is the reason for further treatment.

Now you can address your environment. Yes, steam cleaning will work for your carpets, but keep in mind that you also need to do your furniture, draperies and even your mattresses. This can be ridiculously time-consuming; a lot of hard work, and is also really effective. But you can’t steam clean your lawn.

When it comes to the yard, there are also a huge number of products to choose from. Most of them are chemical in nature and can be toxic to your family and your pets. Even rain runoff can cause these insecticides to get into ground water or ponds and kill turtles, frogs and other wildlife. But, they are usually very effective. If you choose to use such a product, read the labels carefully and definitely avoid using around your children or pets. You will probably have to keep your kids and pets out of the treated area for a period of time to allow it to dry or to water-in the powder, or whatever the directions happen to be for a particular product.

The employees here at Garden Harvest Supply have found the all around, all natural solution. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE)! This fine fossil dust has a devastating effect, which simply put means that it kills them, on the exoskeleton of fleas, ticks and other biting insects. It is clean, it is all natural, it is non-toxic and you can use it anywhere, even directly on your pet.

You can simply spread DE with a spreader or applicator throughout your yard and the fleas and other insects that are in it will quickly die, as will all others who dare to cross it. Now that you have a flea-free zone of your own, you can turn your attention to your pet and the interior environment. You can powder your pets with DE and unless they get wet or you bathe them, you shouldn’t have to reapply it until you see signs of fleas again. You may want to shampoo them first and let them dry before application. Long-haired pets may require a bit more application. Make sure you rub it through their fur so that it comes into contact with their skin and you can use it from head to tail. In fact, some people even make sure they get it between the toes. J This application should protect them even if they venture out of your flea-free environment.

Finally, sprinkle DE throughout your house. You can sprinkle it in the carpet and in very short order it will sift through, even to the padding, coating all of those surfaces. You can steam clean your carpets and furniture first if you know that you have a bad infestation, then wait until its completely dry to use the DE, or you can skip the steam cleaning. You can sprinkle DE along the baseboards, under your couch cushions and even on your mattress and between mattresses. You will probably want to use a mattress cover after dusting your mattress though. You should also wash all bedding in the house, including your pets’. Hot water isn’t necessary, unless you prefer it. The detergent will kill the adults, their eggs and the immature pupae.

Using Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is less labor-intensive than many solutions and much safer for you, your family and your pets. Its uses are almost endless, so visit our DE Product Details page and scroll down to see a great number of the uses that DE can be utilized for.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 8:52 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

So, you’ve discovered that you have an infestation of bedbugs. That is definitely one of the most unpleasant surprises ever. You might have found them in your home, but the most common places to find them are in University dorms and in hotels, motels or hostels.

Bedbugs are notorious hitchhikers though, so if your high school student goes and spends a “college experience” in the dormitory of the local university that is infested, he or she may very well bring them home. The same holds true of your children going on sleepovers or even hanging out in the home of a friend. In fact, if you live in a multi-family dwelling, they can move from unit to unit along the wires or water pipes, just like cockroaches do. The good news is that they are not known to carry any human pathogens from one person to another or from pets to humans, so you won’t get deathly ill from them. But, the little sores they leave can become infected and the itching can be downright uncomfortable and annoying. Calamine lotion, Campho-Phenique® or other similar solutions may help, but that still leaves the problem of getting rid of the bedbugs.

Your first line of defense, if you can afford it, should be a professional exterminator. They can utilize a fogging type of insecticide that will get into every nook, crack and cranny that a bedbug might choose as its daytime hideaway, though a combination of dusts, sprays and aerosols may be the best option for your particular infestation. Their solutions will also take care of the eggs that have been laid and will be approved for use on bedding, which is the most difficult place to get rid of them.  A thorough inspection of your home should be accomplished and the exterminator should be able to show you the signs of bedbugs and be able to point out to you some live adults. It’s important that you recognize the bugs and know what it looks like if you start to see an infestation again.

If you are unable to afford an exterminator and think that your infestation may be confined to only one small area, like a single bedroom, you can try a number of “home remedies” that have been proven to work, to one degree or another:

• Vacuuming & Cleaning—This will work in the short term, but it’s important to realize that cleaning up will NOT get rid of bedbugs completely. They are not attracted to dirty houses and they are such experts at hiding under baseboards, in the tiniest cracks and nail holes and even behind artwork hung on the wall that no amount of cleaning will get rid of them. Their eggs are hardly even visible, resembling the smallest bits of dust when on a dark surface. Dismantling furniture, scrubbing the undersides and the interior of every drawer, pulling baseboards off the walls and using caulk to seal up every single minute access or hiding spot will probably not be enough to find every single bedbug and eradicate them.
• Steam Cleaning—Extreme heat, anything above 120°F, will kill bedbugs and their eggs, but you must steam clean every single surface. Most steamers will exceed this temperature, but you may want to get a commercial steamer so as to be able to run it for long periods of time and to be able to thoroughly steam all possible accessible areas. There is also a “dry steam” option that has a much lower risk of mold which can be a problem when using wet steam on fabrics, carpeting and carpets. You will also have to be absolutely sure that you have applied steam to every single crack and crevice. If the head of the steamer cannot reach far enough into these areas, the heat may dissipate before it reaches the little suckers and then all your work will have been for nothing. Leave one egg, one nymph or one adult female and you will soon have the same problem that you worked so hard to eliminate.
• Diatomaceous Earth—Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is one of the few really effective “all natural home remedies” for killing bedbugs. Consisting of very fine fossil dust, it has really jagged edges that are lethal to the exoskeleton of many insects, to include bedbugs. Fleas and ticks are also on this list, so using DE will not only work on bedbugs, but will rid your home of other biting insects as well. DE can even be used outside of your house in the yard and is completely safe for your family and pets. The jagged edges that kill the bugs are so tiny as to be completely safe when coming into contact with your own, your children’s or pet’s skin. You can sprinkle DE around the floor under and near your bed and along the baseboards. You should also sprinkle it over your mattress, topping it with a mattress cover, and between mattresses and inside the box springs if you can do so. Putting it in all of these places will pretty much guarantee that the bedbugs will cross it and will therefore be rendered deader than a doornail. When treating, make sure to wash your bed linens in hot water to get rid of any “bug signs” and eggs that may have been laid. The hatching nymphs will have one thing on their mind—their first blood feast on your nice warm body. One word of caution—only use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. There is another form that is often used in swimming pool filters and is not as safe for your family and pets, especially if inhaled. You also might want to wear one of those simple paper masks to avoid inhaling the Food Grade DE; it is quite fine and easily inhaled and though it won’t harm you, it doesn’t taste that great. Then, after a couple of weeks, vacuum the evidence completely away. If you vacuum in between, reapply the DE so as to make sure to kill those hatching nymphs. Eggs hatch in 10 days so a 2-week treatment should work very well.

Some of the things that are pretty much a total waste of your time will be:

• Leaving stuff out in the heat or in the cold. As stated above, it would have to be over 120°F for an extended period and it would have to be below zero for a week or two in order to freeze them out. That also will do nothing for the little buggers hiding behind baseboards, in nail holes, behind artwork, in electrical outlets or in any other number of interior spaces.
• Mattress Covers or encasements, which completely zip around your mattress, will eventually kill the ones trapped inside, but keep in mind that they can live up to 18 months without feeding. As long as they can’t get out and you don’t mind knowing that they’re in there, it’s a good solution for your mattress.  It will, however, do absolutely nothing for the ones that are hiding elsewhere.
• Lavender oil is a complete waste of your time and money. Though touted as a solution, there is no evidence that it works at all.
• Bleach will also not work. It is toxic when inhaled; it irritates your skin and can damage just about any surface it comes in contact with.

So, the informed agree; short of a professional exterminator, which can be quite costly and may have to treat more than one time, Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth will do the absolute best job. You can even buy a small quantity and take it with you when traveling or include it in your son’s or daughter’s college dorm furnishings.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 8:48 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

That bats are blind is a misconception; they just see much better in the dark than they do in sunlight and they hunt by echolocation, rather than by sight. Working similar to sonar, they bounce sound waves off of their prey. They are actually very clean animals and though they look similar to a rodent, but more threatening because they have wings, they are much more desirable, cleaner and beneficial than mice, gophers, moles or rats.  

The bat population, unfortunately, is on the decline due to human civilization encroaching on their habitat and, in part, because bats have received a “bad rap” and have been targeted for eradication in some areas. If this trend continues, we will have lost an invaluable natural resource designed to be a natural enemy to the mosquito and other noxious flying insects. These harmful insects cannot become immune to bats like they can to the numerous chemicals utilized to control them. There will come a time when sprays and treatments will be largely ineffective against mosquitoes. Where will we be without the bats?

In order to be sure to attract bats, there are a few simple steps to follow. First, choose the type of bat house according to the number of bats that you wish to have working in your back yard. If you have a large area, or both a back and front yard, you may want to locate numerous Bat Houses strategically around your home. Bat Houses should be mounted about 15 feet above the ground, preferably facing south or southeast to take advantage of the heat of the morning and early afternoon sun. Most people prefer to locate them a number of feet from the house, but some will even hang their Bat Houses right on their own house or garage, convenient to a “viewing area” where they can watch the bats at work. Bat Houses placed on poles and structures tend to become occupied quicker than those placed on trees, most likely because they prefer not to have to navigate branches when flying in and out. If you find that you have bats living in your belfry or attic, place the bat house in close proximity to this area in order to lure them into a more suitable living arrangement, unless of course, you don’t mind them in your house. You can relocate the Bat House a little further away once they have established habitation there.

Bats will normally be very abundant throughout the summer and into late fall, either hibernating or migrating to warmer areas with a more abundant food supply in the winter, returning again in early summer. Winter or early spring will be the best time to relocate your Bat House if you choose to.  

Most new bat houses will be occupied in the first 1 to 6 months. If you find that bats do not roost in your bat house by the end of the second summer, simply move the house to another location.  Thanks so much for helping these airborne friends!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 9:04 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If you live in a climate with cold seasons, you’ve probably seen frost.  Delicate plants are vulnerable to being damaged or killed when nighttime temperatures fall to the frost point, which is at or near freezing.  So what exactly is frost and what can we do about it?

First, let’s look at the basics.  Air contains moisture in varying levels.  Dew is the glistening condensation that forms just above the ground and settles on plants and grass.  Dew occurs when air near the ground is cooler and more moist than the higher layers of air.  Fog is also condensation from the ground air being cooler than the layers above it.  Fog is always accompanied by dew, although dew can happen without fog.

Frost, sometimes referred to as hoar frost, is water vapor (or moisture in the air) that has frozen without first becoming a liquid.  On clear, cool nights, when heat radiates from the ground and the temperatures fall to freezing or below at the ground surface, frost crystals form and coat low-lying cold surfaces.  It can be a barely-visible coating or a thick white layer resembling a dusting of snow.

If the outdoor temperatures are lower than indoor temps, and the humidity level is higher inside the structure, frost can form inside windows, creating fascinating visible crystal structures. 

When frost forms on plants, it coats all surfaces, including leaves, stems and fruit.  Some plants are frost tolerant and are not sensitive to the icy coating.  However, if plants aren’t capable of standing up to the freezing air temperatures or layer of frost, their internal cells are damaged, and leaves and fruit can be killed. 

If a frost warning is issued and plants need to be protected, there are several ways to maintain higher temperatures at the ground level.  A physical cover, such as cloth or even a layer of paper or plastic, can be placed directly on top of sturdy plants, but for young or delicate plants, posts or stakes should be used to support the sheet to keep it just above the plant tops.  The covering must be removed in the early morning so the sun’s heat doesn’t scorch the plants.  Anything else that will hold in heat, such as a water-filled protector designed to stand up around plants, or a large container placed over the plants, will help keep frost from finding an unwelcome landing spot.

For protecting large fields or orchards, farmers have sprayed their trees and crops with water to keep surfaces from freezing.  It might sound odd, but a thick layer of water won’t freeze as readily as humidity in the air will.  Also, wet soil holds more heat than dry soil, so watering your garden just before a frost can prevent plant damage.  The air temperatures above moist soil are slightly warmer than above dry soil and can protect plants, as well.  When temps fall considerably below the freezing level, it might be necessary to keep a steady flow of water on plant surfaces, to keep them protected from the cold air.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There is no debate about the difference between commercially grown tomatoes and those fresh-picked from the garden. However, there is debate among tomato plant growers about which varieties produce superior fruit.

Garden Harvest Supply has the widest range imaginable of tomato plants for sale. Those include hybrid, open-pollinated, and heirloom tomato plants, which each appeal to different home growers for different reasons. To know which tomato plants for sale are the best for your gardening and cooking needs, let’s look at what qualities each tomato is known for.

Hybrid tomatoes are bred for specific traits. They’re great for commercial growers who supply tomatoes to supermarkets. The fruits are designed to be consistent in color, size and shape, while flavor isn’t the top criterion of growers of those tomato plants. However, they hold up well in shipping, have dependable flavor, and many are disease resistant, so they’re also popular among home gardeners looking for effortless growing.

Heirloom tomato plants, on the other hand, produce fruits that vary in size, shape and color. Heirlooms are not genetically modified or scientifically altered in any way. They’re the same now as they’ve been for 100 or more years. Open pollinated tomato plants are simply heirlooms in training. They’ll become heirlooms after they’ve been successfully grown for a sufficient amount of time to qualify.

Finding heirloom tomato plants for sale is no easy feat. The market for gardeners is flooded with hybrid tomato plants for sale. Hybrids are wonderful and serve their purpose well, but purists and those gardeners who appreciate the challenge of growing tomatoes with character and unique qualities are drawn to heirlooms. Heirloom tomato aficionados are drawn to the wide variety of fruits to choose from. Heirloom tomatoes are sometimes so unique as to not even look like tomatoes. Garden Harvest Supply has heirlooms that are rarely seen elsewhere and gardeners will love experimenting with growing the more obscure varieties.

Garden Harvest Supply has potted tomato plants for sale that will yield tiny to huge, and oval to squat-shaped red, purple-black, green striped, yellow or pink tomatoes unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. And, the taste of a good heirloom tomato is definitely something you won’t soon forget. It’s rare to find heirloom tomatoes available to purchase commercially, since commercial growers are more concerned with crop volume than quality. So, home gardeners are the growers who keep the demand for heirloom tomatoes high, and with good reason.

Once you’ve sampled your first fresh-picked heirloom tomato, you’ll want to dedicate an entire garden to this delicacy, the produce that is summer’s greatest offering.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 11:07 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

January is a busy time for us at Garden Harvest Supply. We begin taking orders on our vegetable plants this week, which means that when spring comes, we can ship plants out to you at the perfect time for replanting based on where you live. We offer a greater selection of starter veggie plants than anyone else online, and we’re proud to grow them in larger-than-usual pots to ensure healthier roots systems. So let one of your resolutions this New Year be to plan your spring garden early. Then order the vegetable plants you need from us!

How to Keep On Growing Despite the Frost

If planning is not enough for you and you just can’t wait to plant, we suggest you put up a row cover, or it’s larger cousin, a hoop house. That’s what Michelle Obama and her staff did a couple of weeks ago at the White House Garden, enabling them to grow a large variety of crops there during the Washington winter including spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, chard, cabbage, winter radishes, onions, broccoli, turnips and carrots.

We’ve long recommended row covers to those customers who want an extended growing season but don’t need anything as large or permanent as a full-sized greenhouse.  These simple tunnel-like structures with plastic or fabric stretched over and around them catch the sun’s rays and achieve results similar to a greenhouse for a fraction of the cost. They are also easy to put up, as you can see from viewing their installation at the White House Garden.

If you’d like to give row covers a try, Haxnicks Easy Tunnel Row Cover contains everything you need to get started. The galvanized steel hoops will last for years, and the tough UV-stabilized polyethylene forms a complete barrier retaining humidity and warmth, while protecting against frosts, harsh weather, and pests. At $39.50, it’s a very economical way to keep on growing despite the snow and frost.

An alternate solution is the Cold Frame Single Mini-Greenhouse, which, at $44.99 is almost as inexpensive and provides more than 5 sq. feet of growing space. The advantage of the Cold Frame is that you can move it from one area of your yard to another, allowing you, for example, to start seedlings and grow plants to maturity without transplanting. Simply move the cold frame when the danger of frost is past.

We also carry the Cold Frame Double Mini-Greenhouse which provides more than 10 square feet of growing space—enough for a small family to grow their veggies and herbs. In some zones you’ll be able to grow all year round.

The Season Starter, one of our best selling products, is designed to give you a jump on the next growing season by allowing you to plant your cold-sensitive vine crops as much as six weeks earlier than usual. An improved version of the popular Wall O’ Water, it is often used for growing early tomatoes, but will also work with peppers, cucumbers, melons, and all other vine crops, as well as certain herbs.

Though simple in its design, it delivers sophisticated results, the kind you’d be more likely to expect from a fancy product with timers and light sensors. When you wrap the Season Starter around a plant during daylight hours, the tubes of water it contains begin to absorb solar energy. When the temperature drops, these tubes slowly and uniformly release that accumulated energy, generating enough heat to keep plants warm overnight. In freezing temperatures, the walls of water freeze before the plant feels the cold, releasing increasing amounts of heat as they do. In this way the Season Starter is able to protect tender plants during frosty nights, and the wrap-around design helps shelter them from chilly winds.

Certified Organic Seed

If you’re going to be planting this winter, you’ll need seed. The best kind of seed comes from plants that have not been genetically engineered, and were grown entirely by natural means without the application of any synthetic chemicals.

This kind of seed is known as organic, but not everyone who claims to provide organic seed produces it the same way. That’s why standards for organic agriculture were developed, along with a certification process by which growers can prove that they have followed all the best practices recommended by experts in the field.

We’re proud that all the seed that we sell has been certified organic by MOSES, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.  This organization holds the bar so high that some organic farmers don’t want to take the trouble to meet all their certification requirements. Those who are willing to “walk the extra mile” are the ones from whom we get our seed. The produce you grow from it will have a healthier start than nearly all the organically grown produce that is commercially available.

How can we say this? Because less than 5% of certified organic produce is grown from certified organic seed. This is far from ideal, as Peggy Miars, an organic certifier for CCOF, an organic certification and trade organization, explains:

I think in order to be truly organic, you need to start with the organic seed, and I know that’s something that CCOF is trying to encourage farmers to use, and I know it’s something they really want to use, and I know it’s something that consumers think need to be used as well—so I think it needs to start organic from seed all the way through to the table.

The Big Picture: Earth in the Balance

That’s just what we offer at Garden Harvest Supply: everything you need to grow organic from the “seed all the way through to the table.” And when you grow that way, you not only end up with great tasting produce, but you help to restore ecological health to the earth.

More than two hundred years ago, George Washington wrote that the improvement of agricultural practices is one of the most real and important services anyone can render to their country. How ironic that the farmers rendering that service today are those that are in some ways returning to the kind of farming that was practiced by the early settlers: one that involves crop rotation, the planting of perennials, and the use of organic fertilizers and natural methods of pest control.

By retaining the best of our hard-won agricultural advances over the last two centuries, while once again working with nature rather than against it, we can replenish the soil, restore the purity of our waterways, and be more productive than farmers in Washington’s time could have ever dreamed possible.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We’d like to offer our sincere thanks to you for making 2009 a great year for Garden Harvest Supply. We appreciate your business, and your patronage has allowed us to continue expanding and enhancing our site, our products, and our services. Ushering in 2010, we hope you are able to look back with appreciation on all that was good for you in 2009, too.

Through the hardships many Americans faced the past year, there have been numerous bright spots. Our nation’s economy is recovering from a rough ride, and the uncertain future has forced us to examine what’s truly important in life. The season of giving has never had more meaning. The materialism of the ’90s has been replaced with a more retrospective, caring and selfless attitude in our society. 

Less self-centered living has given us a deeper respect for nature. Our homes have become our sanctuaries, and simpler lifestyles mean a higher quality of life. Growing our own food is becoming necessary for budgetary reasons, as well as for our nutrition, our physical health, and our spiritual well-being. Organic gardening empowers us to enjoy the very best the earth has to offer.

Garden Harvest Supply is now accepting orders for spring plants for landscaping, gardening and home decorating. (We also sell a full line of organic seeds year-round.) Live plants will arrive as soon as it’s safe to ship them to your growing zone. Don’t forget to purchase fertilizers, soil amendments, and ergonomic gardening tools, to make this spring’s garden your most enjoyable, most productive, ever. Order your plants now, to ensure they’re available. Plant a rainbow of vegetable colors to get the widest array of nutrients out of your produce.  We wish you a fantastic New Year, and we’re here to help you plan a bounteous spring garden.

Again, thank you for making our year wonderful, and we look forward to serving you in the future.

From 

All of us at Garden Harvest Supply

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

If stored properly, popcorn can last for years. There have been thousand-year-old popcorn kernels (preserved by the Peruvian Indians) that still popped.

Popcorn has been around for a long time. The oldest ears of popcorn discovered were over 5,500 years old! The early Americans loved it so much that they ate it for breakfast, with sugar and cream. During the Great Depression, when many businesses went under, popcorn producers thrived because people could easily afford it. Today it is so popular that the average American eats 50 quarts of popcorn each year!

Because of the popularity of this snack food, farmers are now growing specialty popcorn in different sizes, colors, and flavors. Most popcorn connoisseurs will tell you the best popcorn is the ladyfinger variety. The preferred method for preparing these gourmet popcorns are with a stovetop popper, although hot-air poppers produce equally delicious fluffy kernels without the added calories of oil.

If you buy popcorn in bulk, proper storage is a necessity in order to prevent mold and bugs. Popcorn kernels should be stored in an air-tight container. It is recommended to put a couple of bay leaves inside the container to prevent bugs. The air-tight container should be kept in a cool, dark area. Do not store in a refrigerator, freezer or open container, as this will dry out the popcorn kernels, making them unpoppable.

Popcorn is inexpensive, easy to make, and provides fiber, potassium, vitamin B, and carbohydrates.  Eaten plain, it is low in calories, and very satisfying—so enjoy some today!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

What a sweet thought…homegrown sweet potatoes.  Not only are they a near-failproof crop, but their long storage life makes them ideal for home gardeners.  Sweet potatoes are delicious and they are also jam-packed with nutritional value.  They’re versatile in recipes and are simple to prepare.  Garden Harvest Supply is now accepting orders for all of our spring shipment sweet potatoes.  Georgia Jet and Beauregard are perennial favorite varieties and are recommended for beginning sweet potato growers.

Place your orders now to ensure the varieties you love will be available to you in the spring.  Check our shipment schedule to determine when to expect your orders to arrive.  Then, enjoy the rewards of growing and harvesting your own sweet potatoes.  We know you’ll thank us with each bite!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.