Tag: beans

Planting My Garden, May 2020

It’s finally time for me to plant. I spent hours researching plants, finding out what can and cannot work together, researching gardening techniques and styles. I’ve watched days worth of YouTube videos by different gardeners, and I was waiting for now. Memorial day weekend is plating time where I’m from. Before then, there is a constant risk of frost or even snow. I planted my onions, some Parris island lettuce, and my radishes about 2 weeks ago, and they got snow and frost. But, after Wednesday night, we are out of the frost zone! I planted another 1/3 of my lettuce row with seeds, I planted 4 Swiss chard seeds, I planted 5 indeterminate tomato vines, and Josh and I made stakes that are 1 in x 1 in x 6 1/2 foot for my tomatoes. We plated 5 clusters of cucumbers, and added cages around them, because we hope to grow them vertically, and finally, Josh made a trellis for me using chicken wire, and I plated green bean pole beans along the front of that. Our beds are 8 ft by 4 ft.

I did a lot of research leading up to this. Different staking methods, high density spacing, harvest conditions and seeding conditions. I grew some plants from seeds, however, I also purchased many plants. I’ve never really gardened before. Josh grew up with a garden, but I’ve only grown the occasional cherry tomato. I have house plants, but even they are hard for me to manage all winter. I’m hopeful. I put lots of time into this project and I’ve learned so much about these plants. I know I will be disappointed when something doesn’t work, but I’m hopeful, and I hope to share lots of canning posts this summer on here and Instagram.

Things I did differently

According to my plans, it says beets, but it was always radishes. I just say beets sometimes, I don’t know why. The other thing I’ve done differently was how I planted the beans. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a trellis, so I planned for a teepee. Instead I planted the beans 4 inches from the edge of the bed with about 6 inch spacing between them. I still fit 12 plants along the 6 foot of trellis Josh put up. Finally, I haven’t planted my carrots yet. I am currently using their pots to hold a few other plants I still have. I plant to plant my decorative plants soon. I also am thinking of keeping my early crop of Romaine in the pot. The white hanging pot has changed from onions to cat grass, and the 2 other pots in that photo are large cucumbers. Of which, the reason I didn’t plant the carrots is we need for dirt for out fabric pots, and I plan to fill 2 more for my 2 large cucumber plants. This will mean 4 fabric bags of plants.

If I could do things different

I guess I would make the raised beds slightly narrower. Because, I get quite the ab workout leaning into the center of the bed from the side. I would also plant all my onions together, and plant them at the outer edge of the beds. On my cucumber bed, I planted a row of radishes against the edge of the bed. They are doing fine, but I won’t be able to plant anything in it’s spot when I harvest in less than a month. I would also actually follow spacing for the radishes, instead of planning to plant high density like the lettuce.

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Homemade Mild Chili And Seasoning

Chili is a great meal for a slow cooker, so that can be eaten when you are hungry. I’ve always used Seasoning packets for my chili, however I have all the ingredients to make it myself, so I decided, why not? I used a big quart of canned diced tomatoes for this recipe. I canned tomatoes last September, so I like to used them for these big recipes. I also used normal diced tomatoes as my other smaller can, but you can also add an additional can or two, or even stewed tomatoes instead if you want some other flavors. Since I used fresh canned tomatoes, my cook time will be longer than needed for store bought cans of tomatoes. That’s because I had to cook out the freshness from my tomatoes. If you are using cans of tomatoes, you can go straight from high to keep warm temp on your slow cooker. If you are doing stove top, once it’s hot, it’s done. Finally, the longer you cook chili, the less spicy it becomes. So, either season heavily at the beginning, or season cautiously at the beginning and plan to add more before serving.

  1. Brown 1 pound of ground beef. Dice 1 medium onion, and add to fully cooked beef. Cook until onions are tender.
  2. Pull out your slow cooker or a dutch oven. In it, add 1 large container of diced tomatoes, 1 small can of diced tomatoes, and 1 can of strained kidney beans. Add onion, beef, and the fats to the large container. Stir.
  3. For mild chili, add 5 Tbsp chili powder, 3 Tbsp cumin powder, 2 tsp cayenne powder, and 2 tsp red pepper flakes. For hotter chili, add extra chili powder and cumin to your taste.
  4. In a slow cooker, cook on high for 1/2 hour, then turn to low for 1 1/2 hour. Then leave on keep warm until ready to eat.
  5. In a dutch oven, place over medium-low heat, cook covered for 1/2 hour, until hot, or until your tomatoes taste cooked.
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Homemade Chili

Chili is a meal you can make early or the night before and eat it whenever you are hungry. When we were young and involved in multiple activities, my parents would often make meals like chili or goulash, so that we could eat whenever we were hungry. We also made it on the stove at times, especially if you want to eat sooner, and then it can be transferred to the crock pot if you want to keep it warm for a long time.

  1. Brown 1 lb of ground beef. Dice up half an onion (1/4 cup). Add the onion and cook till it begins to sweat. If there is an excess amount of fat, strain it off then transfer into a crock pot.
  2. Turn your crock pot to high. Add your beef and onion. Add one large can of diced tomatoes (32 oz or 1 quart canned), add 1 small can of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz), a 1 can of stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz), 1 strained can of kidney beans (15.5 oz), and one packet of mild chili seasoning.
  3. Cook the chili for 1 1/2 hours til hot, or continue to cook up to 8+ hours. Add more seasoning to taste. Serve with bread and butter, and shredded sharp cheese.

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