How to Freeze Fresh Pumpkins from the Garden

Image: Emilie von Büttner/Wikimedia Commons

Pumpkins are for more than carving jack-o-lanterns, they’re for eating too. If you’ve grown your own pumpkins or have picked up a bunch from the local apple orchard or farmers market for eating, freeze them for later use in pies, soups and butters. Here’s how to freeze pumpkins in 7 easy steps.

Which Pumpkins are Best for Eating?

Sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins taste the best. They’re a little sweeter and less stringy than those you carve for Halloween. When planning your garden, consider planting the following to use in your favorite pumpkin recipes.

• Baby Pam
• New England Pie
• Winter Luxury
• Gurney’s 
  ® 
  Giant Magic Hybrid
• Big Max

How to Freeze Fresh Pumpkin

Step 1: Quarter pumpkins by cutting in half and then cutting each halve in half

Step 2: Scoop out seeds and save them for toasting or frying, remove strings attached to pumpkin flesh

Step 3: Place pumpkin halves skin side down in baking pan. Add about ¼” water to the pan, cover and bake for 1 hour at 300° F or until flesh is easily pierced with knife

Step 4: Uncover and let pumpkins rest until cool enough to handle

Step 5: Remove pumpkin flesh from skin and cut into 2 - 3” pieces

Step 6: Puree in food processor until smooth or freeze pieces as is depending on what pumpkin will be used for

Step 7: Let pumpkin cool before placing in freezer bags or containers. Measure precise amount of pureed pumpkin and label each bag with amount and date frozen. To freeze pieces of pumpkin, place on a cookie sheet uncovered and pop into the freezer. When frozen, remove pumpkin pieces from cookie sheet and pop into freezer bags, label and date. This method allows you to remove as much or as little pumpkin from the bag as you like and return the rest to the freezer for later use.

What are some of your favorite pumpkin recipes?

Time to Dig up Outdoor Herbs and Bring them Indoors

Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Fall is here and we all know what that means; an end all be all frost is soon to follow here in the north. If you have potted outdoor herbs or any in the ground, now is a good time to bring them indoors. I've already dug up my basil plants, potted them and brought them in for the winter. Annuals, when brought in before the frost, last well into winter.

Which Herbs Should You Bring Indoors?

Before you put your shovel to work, take a good look at the herbs you want to pot. Are they healthy? Are they already knocking on death’s door? Only pot those that are healthy and aren’t showing any signs of dying off as these won’t last very long indoors. Checking for insects and keep in mind that small to medium sized plants transplant the best.

How to Pot Outdoor Herbs

Step 1 Choose the Right-Sized Container: Potted herbs benefit from well-draining containers and those that allow for ample air circulation. Untreated containers such as terra cotta and wood are porous and work well for potted herbs because they let air in and excess moisture out. Choose a container size that will accommodate the root ball of your plants. I prefer to use containers that are twice the size of the root ball of my plants.

Step 2 Dig Up Outdoor Herbs: On a cloudy day, give your herbs a good watering. Gently dig around the plants, about twice the circumference, and coax them out of the ground. It’s okay not to get the entire root ball. When transplanting from the ground to containers, it’s normal for some of the root system to be left behind.

Step 3 Potting Outdoor Herbs: Transplant your freshly dug up herbs to containers that are of the right size and filled with one part peat moss, 1 part sand and 1 part potting mix. Water your plants and move them to a shady spot outdoors.

Step 4 Acclimating Newly Potted Herbs: If the weather permits, let your newly potted plants rest outside in the shade for 1 to 2 weeks before bringing them indoors. This helps to acclimate them to indoor growing conditions. If need be, bring them in at night if the temperatures dip or the average frost date is growing near.

Step 5 Choose the Right Spot Indoors: Before bringing your potted herbs indoors, check them once again for insects. Inspect the leaves and stems of plants thoroughly and remove any insects or eggs you find. Next, choose a spot indoors that receives lots of sun. The sunniest spots of the house are usually those that face south.

Continue to water your plants as they need it. Harvest herbs to use fresh and dry any extras. It’s best to keep harvesting to encourage the plants to keep growing. Don’t worry if your plants look limp for a few days after potting or bringing them indoors; some may go into shock but usually they’ll snap out of it in a few days time. My basil plants wilted but after a good watering they came back a few days later.

Helpful Articles

Average Frost Dates for the North

How to Freeze Herbs

How to Dry Herbs

How to Freeze Herbs in 4 Easy Steps

Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Freezing herbs is easy, plain and simple. All it takes is a few minutes of prep work and a couple of supplies found in most kitchens. In four easy steps, learn to freeze your favorites and preserve them for winter use.

Supplies

• Cutting Board
• Knife (paring)
• Teaspoon
• Ice Cube Tray
• Freezer Bags

Step 1: Gather Herbs

The best herbs to freeze are fresh and unblemished. Allow them to mature to your liking and harvest before they get woody or start to wilt. Shake them free of bugs, dirt and debris.

Step 2: Preparation

It’s important to prepare your herbs before freezing. Think about how you normally use the ones already in your kitchen cupboards. Cut, slice and dice them to size using your kitchen knife. I prefer my paring knife and sometimes, my food processor which I use to prepare herbs like basil.

Step 3: Fill Ice Cube Trays

Using your teaspoon, fill each slot in your ice cube tray with 1 teaspoon of prepared herbs. Top off each slot with water and pop the tray into the freezer. As you fill the tray with water, expect them to float to the top.

Step 4: Remove from Tray and Store

When your herb cubes have fully frozen, pop them out of the tray and into freezer bags or containers. Make sure to label each bag with type of herb, amount per cube and date. Pop the bags back into the freezer, storing different types in different bags.

Enjoy Your Fresh, Frozen Herbs

When it’s time to spice up your meals, simply take the desired amount of cubes from your freezer and drop them into your hot dishes. There’s no need to thaw the cubes beforehand as the cubes quickly melt. Add to soups, stews sauces and more. Enjoy!

What are some of your favorite herbs?

Putting in a New Garden Bed by Hand

I spent a few hours on Friday afternoon putting in a new garden bed by hand. I turned a steep slope that had to be weed whacked every week into a place for my onions to grow. I figured why not. 

Turning a small section of the lawn that was too steep to mow into a new garden bed was a win – win considering I want to delve a little deeper into sustainable vegetable gardening.

Now, doing this all by hand was a bit of work. After all I had to use quite a bit of muscle and sweat to transform an otherwise useless space into something workable. My new garden bed is roughly 7’ x 12’ (I’m really bad at estimating measurements, even small ones.)

(I sill had a bit of digging to do in the lower left hand corner of this picture)

Step 1: Digging Out the Grass

I used a spade with a long handle and dug up the existing grass. I worked from bottom to center and then top to center to create my new garden bed. Working from the bottom was easier because I didn’t have to balance myself on the steep hill. Mind you, I didn’t want to compact the grass by stepping on it before digging it up.

The grass roots were pretty shallow so I was able to angle the spade under the grass and lift the roots. Some areas were easier to work than others. After loosening the roots I was able to shovel most of the grass, clump by clump, into my wheelbarrow. For the stubborn clumps I used a hand spade to loosen the roots and removed them by hand.

Step 2: Removing the Debris in the New Garden Bed

After all the grass was gone, I removed any stragglers and ripped out a few stubborn blades where they remained. I also picked out the rocks I found. I noticed some stubborn root systems still embedded in my new garden bed so I removed those as well.

Step 3: Adding Compost/Tilling/Leveling

The soil in my new garden bed looked pretty good but I added a dose of compost anyway. My compost consists of kitchen scraps and leaves. It’s a great way to add nutrients to the soil organically.

Trying to keep with the sustainable garden idea, I tilled in the 2" of compost I added by hand. This took a bit of time but my new garden bed isn’t very big so it was definitely doable. Once the tilling was finished I leveled the soil with the backside of a metal rake.

Step 4: Making Raised Rows in the New Garden Bed

I decided to make raised rows in my new garden bed for 2 reasons. First, I needed some space to be able to move between each row. The trenches left between the raised rows act like shelves on the steep hill giving me a somewhat comfortable place to walk.

Secondly, since I was putting in onions and know they grow better in raised beds, I figured I'd give them a little treat and raise the rows a bit. (I didn’t put in a raised bed)

Step 5: Putting the Onions in

On Saturday I put my onion sets in the new garden bed spacing them about 4” apart and covering them with about 2” of loose soil. My rows ended up being a good 6” inches apart. I knew we were getting rain on Sunday morning so I didn’t water my sets right away which is recommended.

We ended up getting a Nor’ Easter with rain Sunday into Monday so my onions got more rain than I was expecting. (We’ll see how they turn out) It’s still a bit early to be sowing vegetables here in Maine, but onions are pretty hardy and can withstand freezing temperatures. They can even over winter in the ground so I’m not worried should we get another frost.

Since I knew I was putting in my onion sets the next day, I went ahead in put in my new garden bed not worrying about weeds overtaking the bed before it was time to plant.

(Looking from Top to Bottom)

I took several water breaks during the time spent putting in my new garden bed. It was pretty hot for April in Maine, in the 80’s I believe, and I wanted to enjoy my time spent outdoors. As you can see in the first picture, my cat kept me company and seemed to enjoy my new garden bed as much, if not more, than I did. 

Additional Reading

Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the North

  

Images By: Patrice Beaulieu (all rights reserved ©)