Gardens 2024: Flowers/Vegetables/Bushes/Trees

[Queen K]

One year I didn't have a single saskatoon berry. Frost.got.them.all.

[DANSPEED]

One year I didn't have a single saskatoon berry. Frost.got.them.all.

Wow, and Saskatoons are from zone 2b (-50°F to -40°F). That's one plant I'd truly call hardy! That and chokecherry. ... I always cringe when I see people in the Okanagan leaving nurseries with rhododendron's in their carts. They're a gamble to plant here. I had one for 20 years that finally met its match at -28C. My neighbor has an old one also but his is more sheltered from the elements then mine was.

[Queen K]

And they bloom for so short of time. For true Rhodes go to the Oregon Coast in April, it's an amazing sight to see them in full colour glory.

[DANSPEED]

And they bloom for so short of time. For true Rhodes go to the Oregon Coast in April, it's an amazing sight to see them in full colour glory.

Just googled it. Beautiful, wild rhododendrons! Manning Park has them too. My neighbor moved from Kelowna to Oak Bay in Victoria and cut down all his old rhodes in the front yard! Said the flowers didn't last long and the shrubs weren't interesting to look at. Sad! ... Reminds me when Albertans move to Kelowna and saw down all their fruit trees then ask me where they can buy fruit around the area!

Lots of cracking noises in my yard last night! I just hope the peach trees survive.

[Catsumi]

I never saw such huge rhodos in blossom as in Florida. Wild things, huge, lining the super highways in all their glory. I hear the bestest is at the foot of the Himalayas where they are native and you must hatchet your way through them.

Anyhoot….back to green beans frozen without blanching them first. My advice…..Don’t do it!!

I’d like to deliver a kick to the rear ends of all those peeps claiming that this was superior method, tastes so good, yadda, yadda. Either their taste buds and sniffers are as dead as a nut, or they used some kind of fancy green bean seed we don’t have or they are lying like Liberal hounds to us.

Tonight I tried again. Boiled them longer, drained, immersed them in a wonderful onion/sour cream sauce and STILL I taste grass and a fishy taste too. My kitchen reeks of the odour of those beans being cooked. I give up and will toss all of them in freezer.

Eating the same beans, freshly picked and cooked was a joy to eat. These I wouldn’t add to soup for fear of having to dump it all.

ALWAYS blanche your green beans prior to freezing. Don’t believe what they say on cooking sites.

I am hostile! Swearing a blue streak! Paint now peeling off the walls.

[DANSPEED]

I never saw such huge rhodos in blossom as in Florida. Wild things, huge, lining the super highways in all their glory. I hear the bestest is at the foot of the Himalayas where they are native and you must hatchet your way through them.

Anyhoot….back to green beans frozen without blanching them first. My advice…..Don’t do it!!

I’d like to deliver a kick to the rear ends of all those peeps claiming that this was superior method, tastes so good, yadda, yadda. Either their taste buds and sniffers are as dead as a nut, or they used some kind of fancy green bean seed we don’t have or they are lying like Liberal hounds to us.

Tonight I tried again. Boiled them longer, drained, immersed them in a wonderful onion/sour cream sauce and STILL I taste grass and a fishy taste too. My kitchen reeks of the odour of those beans being cooked. I give up and will toss all of them in freezer.

Eating the same beans, freshly picked and cooked was a joy to eat. These I wouldn’t add to soup for fear of having to dump it all.

ALWAYS blanche your green beans prior to freezing. Don’t believe what they say on cooking sites.

I am hostile! Swearing a blue streak! Paint now peeling off the walls.

You might be tasting "enzyme actions." ... I've French-cut and blanched green and yellow bush beans for years and had no issues with taste. Nothing beats fresh but it beats buying them! IMO yellow beans taste way better frozen than their green counterpart. I've frozen bell peppers without blanching first and they can taste very bitter. I've found green bells are more susceptible to freezer burn. Orange and red bell peppers are the best for freezing.

[Queen K]

Great to know, we're growing more beans this year as I am using tall wire trellis this year.

[Bsuds]

We had read you could freeze green beans without blanching first too.

Don't do it! They all ended up in the compost as they tasted terrible.

[Catsumi]

We had read you could freeze green beans without blanching first too.

Don't do it! They all ended up in the compost as they tasted terrible.

Yes, a terrible misrepresentation of unblanched beans being good after freezing. I don’t have words to describe the disappointment at the results and of the waste of considerable time on my part

This year, no matter how flippin’ hot it is, I will be going back to blanching.

It’s my hope that someone who might be thinking of trying this “new” method think twice.

[Bsuds]

Ours were frozen and then put in vacuum sealer bags. Didn't help either. Definitely not freezer burned.

[DANSPEED]

I'm going with canning this year! My freezers are full of bell peppers so no room for bags of beans. Sorry Green Giant but $2.79 for four or five beans cut in a can is insane! ... I'd love to freeze peas but that seems like more work than it's worth.

[two_shoes1mit]

Ours were frozen and then put in vacuum sealer bags. Didn't help either. Definitely not freezer burned.

I have just purchased a vacuum sealer - looking forward to the upcoming growing season. Did you blanch your beans, then freeze them, and then put them into vacuum sealer bags?

[Bsuds]

Ours were frozen and then put in vacuum sealer bags. Didn't help either. Definitely not freezer burned.

I have just purchased a vacuum sealer - looking forward to the upcoming growing season. Did you blanch your beans, then freeze them, and then put them into vacuum sealer bags?

We tried without blanching and that was a disaster. They tasted horrible.

Best way is to blanche, dry, freeze then vacuum seal. Lay them out on a cookie sheet to freeze if you can. That works best for fruits, veggies etc. Anything that will squish you want to freeze first.

[two_shoes1mit]

Thank you. What types of fruits are you sealing?

[Catsumi]

I have just purchased a vacuum sealer - looking forward to the upcoming growing season. Did you blanch your beans, then freeze them, and then put them into vacuum sealer bags?

We tried without blanching and that was a disaster. They tasted horrible.

Best way is to blanche, dry, freeze then vacuum seal. Lay them out on a cookie sheet to freeze if you can. That works best for fruits, veggies etc. Anything that will squish you want to freeze first.

I agree with Sudzy. Blanche your beans before freezing as I did for the last 5 decades. They weren’t perfect as freshly picked but a damn-sight better than the non-blanche method.

Interesting (to me) that freezing sliced carrots after blanching turns out a soggy, tasteless mess….YET, when I put the carrots through the food processor, grated, non-blanched and then frozen, the end product is like freshly grated carrots that I then add to coleslaw or to soups. I drain the frozen mass on paper towel prior to adding to coleslaws, btw

What the hell, Batman?? What is going wrong?