Tips for Hardening off Garden Plants

Garden season is here! Whether you are going to plant some early garden plants at this time, or wait until later in May, when we can start transplanting warm season plants, successfully hardening off your transplants helps them make the big transition to full sun and wind!

You'll want to transition your plants over several days to a week, depending on goals, environmental conditions and time you have to manage and plant. A week is a nice amount of time.

Don't overcomplicate it, but DO make sure you've prepped your plants some, to go in the ground, to reduce the risk of transplant shock.

Start by introducing your plants to full sun and wind.

For the first day outside water well and place out in the sun for only 1-3 hours. You could place them in a fully sunny area, then take back in after that time has passed, or place in an area that will begin to get shade after that amount of time. If you're going to be gone all day and can't tend to it, perhaps place in dappled sun. Avoid days that are excessively windy.

I have a nice space on the East side of a building where I like to set them, where they are a little protected from the wind and get shade after midday. I have a small trailer with sides I sometimes like to use, as they can get full sun, but have some wind protection; I used to roll this in and out of the garage. We also have a smaller greenhouse-ish structure that keeps plants out of the wind, but can help to acclimate to temps. Everyone's system will look different! Make sure to keep plants protected from critters, and chickens, and locate them close to water.

You can gradually increase the amount of sun each day, an hour or so a day. You can do this for a few days, or a week, until you have worked your plants up to a full day in the sun.

Add in nights.

After a few days in the sun start leaving the plants outside overnight. Make sure plants at least get a couple nights outside before transplanting. You may want to bring in the night before transplanting to give them a break before the big day. Make sure they continue to be protected from wind. (Can you tell wind is an issue here?)

Keep in mind the needs of your individual plants. Are they cool or warm season? Some plants do not want to be exposed to nights below 50, as it could stunt or alter their growth. Some plants that can take some frost in the fall do not like it in the spring.

Water as needed, but don't baby.

Water your plants as they look like they need to be watered, but you don't need to keep them damp the whole time. Hardening off means we want our plants to be hardy!

Plant those babies out!

When the day comes to transplant make sure to do it in a cool part of the day, on a day that is relatively calm. Early morning is ideal, or after the heat of the day. Water in well and keep watered well as they establish. 

Inevitably,  you may end up with some leaves that turn whiteish (sunburn), or some of the larger leaves may die. This is just par for the course. Watch for the new growth to come on!

Keeping your transplants protected from wind while they are little is helpful, some folks use cans, which can work nice, but keep an eye on them, as they can also hotbox little plants.

A couple other items that may help reduce transplant shock...using a fan with your bedding plants, prior to transplanting, can help toughen up stems, simulating wind...and don't allow plants to become too rootbound in their smaller pots. 

We'll have garden transplants at Shellee's Greenhouse, Madelia, again this year! Watch for a listing of plants - heirloom tomatoes, brassicas, jalapenos, cucumbers, celery and more. We'll have a smaller selection of items available at the farm store. Certified Organic garden transplants to nourish your garden and family!

Brooke and Leo delivering plants to Shellee!

Extra Elderberry Syrup?

Elderflower & Elderberry Syrup Kit

So you bought one of our handy-dandy Elderberry Syrup Kits, or went over to Mountain Rose Herbs and purchased your own supplies to make elderberry syrup BUT now you aren't going through it fast enough and you're worried about it going to waste. 

Here are a few things you can do, at any point, with your elderberry syrup, besides taking it directly!

Freeze It!

Pour elderberry syrup into ice cube trays, or in small jars, with proper headspace, and thaw out as needed. You want to make sure you let these either naturally unthaw, or warm on very gentle heat, to not destroy beneficial compounds in the honey. You could even freeze in tsp or Tbsp single portions and take directly from the freezer - never having to worry about shelf life at all! Use within 6 months.

Make Gummy Worms!

This is a fun project and SO very simple! Easy to do with kiddos as well. 

Gummies Basic Recipe

Ingredients

2 C Fruit juice

2 T high quality gelatin

Mix 2 T gelatin into 1/4 C cold/room temp fruit juice (or in this case, elderberry syrup). Let sit 5 minutes to "bloom."

Gently heat the remaining juice (syrup) until it is very hot, but not boiling.

Add a small amount of the warmed liquid into the bloomed gelatin, whisk together. Add remaining liquid and whisk until well dissolved.

Use a dropper to fill your molds! Place in the fridge for a couple hours before removing into a container. Tip: If you are having trouble getting them out of the molds (with a good quality gelatin you shouldn't), just pop into the freezer briefly and try again.

Store in the fridge (or freezer) and use within 6 months.

Make Lollipops!

I have not ventured into candy territory, but there are plenty of recipes for this online. Calling for a candy thermometer and lollipop mold. Who doesn't love a lollipop or popsicle when they have a cough or sore throat! Plus, many provide the option to add other beneficial herbs or immune supportive vitamins.

Now get to making that elderberry syrup!

Making Elderberry Syrup

Elderberry Syrup Kits

Our Elderberry Syrup Kits are available a good majority of the year. While fall and winter tend to be the main seasons where the syrup is put to use, it is great any time. Grab a kit and make it right away, or have it on hand for when acute symptoms arise.

Our kits come with a jar for storage of the syrup, herbs (dried elderberries, ginger and cinnamon), directions and what we do for dosage - most of which is shared below!

If you want to craft your own, use my link to Mountain Rose Herbs to head over and grab your own ingredients! I often add astragalus to my personal mixture. Also, check out Extra Elderberry Syrup? for some additional ideas!!

Classic Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Makes about 3-4 cups of syrup without alcohol, 4 cups with alcohol.

Active Time: 1 hour

Ingredients 

•2 cups dried organic elderberries (or 4 cups frozen/fresh)

•4 cups cold water (distilled, purified, or spring water works best)

•2-3 tsp. organic dried ginger root

•1 organic sweet cinnamon stick

•1-1 ½  cup raw, local honey (or organic maple syrup or agave for a vegan/infant-friendly recipe); double the amount of sweetener to increase shelf life

•1 cup vodka or brandy (optional to increase shelf life, very medicinal tasting, I prefer it without)

Directions

1. Combine berries and herbs with cold water in a pot and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat and allow herbs to simmer 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and let steep 1 hour. During this time sterilize your jar (boiling water/200° oven).

4. Strain berries and herbs using a funnel overlaid with doubled cheesecloth or undyed cotton muslin bag (or use a fine strainer, but you won’t squeeze out as much juice) and squeeze out liquid (careful, liquid will likely still be hot!). Discard used herbs in compost.

5. Once liquid has cooled to just above room temperature, add honey and stir to incorporate. *The amount of honey should equal one half the amount of liquid after straining.

6. If using vodka or brandy, add here and stir until well combined.

7. Bottle in sterilized glass. Store in the fridge up to 4-6 weeks.

Source: adapted from Mountain Rose Herbs, https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/elderberry-syrup-recipe

Interesting info: https://draxe.com/nutrition/elderberry/

In Our Medicine Cabinet

We use elderberry syrup regularly as an immune system booster. We take a TBSP per day, as a preventative. During acute symptoms we take 1 tsp, every two hours, or a TBSP every 3-4 hours (not to exceed 6 TBSP per day).

For children over 1 a  tsp daily is recommended, or 1 tsp every 3-4 hours, up to 6 times per day for acute symptoms (www.liveberrywell.com). Too much can have a diuretic effect.

When we get sick elderberry syrup is one of the main immune system supporters we grab for. We also use fire cider, astragalus tincture (our other main item used), and more onions and garlic in cooking.

Studies Show: Elderberry syrup may be more effective than the flu vaccine. Elderberry syrup shortens the duration of flu symptoms by about 4 days. (Look into Vitamin D as well!)

This works for us! We encourage you to do your own research as well. Take your health freedom into your hands!!!

For additional ideas and information, check out Extra Elderberry Syrup?

FDA Disclaimer: These statements and products have not been evaluated by the FDA. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. If you have a health concern or condition, consult a physician. Always consult a medical doctor before modifying your diet, using any new product, drug, supplement, or doing any new exercises.

6 Ways to Prep for Preserving Now

Preserving season is already upon us!! What?! Wait?! you might be saying, but it is. I've harvested willow bark and stinging nettles, both for tinctures, thus far and it's time for me to harvest more stinging nettle for teas and infusions. Asparagus is already here, rhubarb is just around the corner, someone out there is likely picking radishes and it just rolls on and picks up from there!

Last week I pulled strawberries and rhubarb out of the freezer to make jam - delicious abundance. This week I'll roast the last butternut squash. You never regret taking the time to preserve.

So, how can you get ready for the coming season, or seasons, of preserving? Here are a few ways...

1. Clean out your freezer!

This is a big goal for me right now. (That I'm totally behind on...we need to eat more tomatoes!) I like to get my large chest freezer kinda tidied up and cleaned out for the beginning of the season. It's no good to stack new items on top of old items - things get lost. Sometimes that's good when you come across a surprise package of asparagus (or bacon), but when you find a bag of strawberries from 2014...

Don't have a freezer? Get one!! (We have three. Two mainly for meat.) Soooo handy. I like to can, so things are energy dependent and perishable, but there are many things that are simply easier to stick in the freezer - fruit, rhubarb, peppers, celery, greens, corn, bone broth, peas...

2. Tidy your pantry.

Whether you have a whole pantry room in your basement, a closet, or a cupboard in your kitchen, give it a look-see. Clean it up. Get familiar with what left to help you prioritize for the seasons ahead.

This helps me see what I'm not using. Haven't gone through a ton of green beans, so not a huge priority - tend to eat them mostly fresh.

2. What have you run out of?

Just to organize your brain for preserving season, and plan your shopping/gardening. Clearly you use these items the most and want to preserve more this season. Spend your time preserving what you really use - this is where it will save you money and bring more enjoyment!

For the first time in years I actually froze enough celery! Yay! I dried celery leaf as back up when I run out. We're out of jam, and salsa...more of those this year.

3. What's high priority? What do you spend the most money on?

Kinda what we talked about above. Know where you are going to source these important items (market, specific farmer, maybe this takes precedence in your garden). Again, this is what's going to save you money and bring more enjoyment.

We go through a lot of tomatoes, so this always is high on the list. Now, with a little one in tow, freezing and canning fruit (to round out our apple diet) is high on my list. What fruit we don't grow I buy in bulk from a local co-op, or other small farms.

5. Get your tools sorted.

Handy tools include a pressure canner and a water bath canner, along with canning funnels and tongs, etc., as well as a dehydrator (or two). Make sure to get your own lined up and ready, or perhaps go in on items with a friend, family member or neighbor - make it a social event!

If you don't have any of these items, perhaps pick one as a place to start. Dehydrators are great for many, many items; we primarily use them for herbs, apple rings and mushrooms, as well as extra onions in the winter sometimes. Water bath canning is for high acid items - applesauce, tomato stuff, jams, pickled items - and can be less time consuming than pressure canning. But, I think a pressure canner is essential - broth, meats, veggies.

The Living Earth Center in Mankato has all of these items to loan out as well!

6. Get your sources sorted.

As the season rolls on think about where you're going to purchase or trade for your high priority, and other, items. Thinking you are going to need a 5 gallon bucket of peas, instead of the quarts at the market tables? Talk to your farmers ahead of time about large quantities, or to find out who has your favorite tomatoes, etc. Are you growing these items? Buying them at market? Ordering through a co-op? When it comes to meat (I consider sticking a whole hog in the freezer part of my preserving plan.) you need to think ahead for bulk quantities (best bang for your buck).

Don't know where to find something? Ask your friendly local farmers! The Mankato Farmers Market has already opened and New Ulm's market begins at the end of June.

Okay, go get started!

During this rain day I'm going to put a pound or two of asparagus in the freezer and dry some nettles!

What are you excited to preserve this season?

Will this be your first year preserving? What questions do you have?

Sowing Seeds

An update with what we have seeded in the greenhouse, and in the garden!

Many folks are asking about more gardening and food preservation questions - let us know what you're looking for and we'll try and walk you through what we do as the season goes on!

It's good to see all this spring green - inside and outside of the greenhouse.

Onions, lettuce, peppers, basil, pea shoots.

What's Growing in the Greenhouse

onions
celery
lettuce
peppers
tomatoes
tomatillos
ground cherries
kale
chard
herbs: sage, ashwaganda, parsley, basil, rosemary
(Items I don't grow anymore that I would have started by now - leeks, other herbs.)

Some seeds I sow into small pots, then transplant the out into
larger plugs or pots. Sage, rosemary, basil, beet greens, chard pictured.

I still have a couple rounds of pea shoots, the last seeding of microgreens and a last cutting of winter lettuce (personal) growing in the greenhouse as well.

Microgreens, celery, ground cherries, pea shoots.

More pea shoots, tomatillos, early basil, kale, parsley, many tomatoes!

Early Spring Crops

When the soil is ready to be worked, mid-late April, There are many items you can get into the ground to get the garden greening up. If you've planted garlic, or rhubarb, it's already poking up and greening your garden!

Last Sunday, April 5th I planted spinach! This is the earliest I have ever been in the field. Don't despair if you are not ready, you have plenty of time to plant. I never depend on getting in the field before April 20th, and I don't get warm season goodies (tomatoes, squash) in until the end of May. Sunday the soil was at 54° - great for spinach - I'm waiting for 60° for my peas, potatoes, onions. I usually plant onions and potatoes around May 1, but it may be earlier this year! My lettuce is ready to head outside as soon as the real cool temps (20s) pass.

As soon as you can work the soil there are many crops you can plant - cool season crops, root crops, greens. Spinach, lettuce and radishes are nice items to start with, as they have shorter seasons and you can plant another crop after them. It's good to get peas in on the early side, so you get a crop before the heat of the season comes in. Any root crops can go in early too - parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, etc. Carrots and beets can be planted in multiple successions through July; do a late crop for storage roots.

Here's one reference for you - Minnesota Vegetable Planting Dates Chart

What I plan to seed/transplant in April - spinach (direct seed), lettuce (transplants, but can be direct seeded well), peas (direct seed), kale (transplants), chard (transplants).

I'll have some transplants at the store a little later on - stay tuned for updates. I recommend Shellee's Greenhouse, in Madelia, as a great source for garden transplants! A great small business that supports the community, we also grow organic transplants for Shellee - including heirloom tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, basil, cucumbers and celery.

Lettuce transplants!

Celery plants headed to Shellee's Greenhouse, Madelia.

Hundreds of tomato babies! Some for the farm,
most for Shellee's Greenhouse, Madeila.