2024 - What I did today

Yesterday I pulled up an orange hawkbit. It was growing in the wrong place. I did spend a couple of days considering leaving it. In the end , I just couldn’t do it. So it got re homed to the neighbours.
Did a bit of weeding.
Sown seeds.
Re potted Christmas cactus. Remove 3 babies that had self rooted into their own pots.

Dehydrating more apples today this will be my 5th jar.

Stewed apples this morning. There was far more than P would eat in a week and I've no room in the freezer so I've bottled some in jam jars. It took me back to the mid 70s when Pand I had just bought our first bungalow. It had a really bountiful apple tree in the very small back garden. I used to stew the apples (I don't think we had a very big freezer, if we had one at all) then bottle the dollop into Kilner jars. They would fill the under bench storage in the kitchen and last P all year. I have no idea what happened to my Kilner jars. Maybe in a misguided clearing out session they were disposed of. I have my regrets about that. See decluttering is not always a good thing.

A bit of GH tidying, then I went to the dentist for my annual checkup. Same time, same place next year.
Went to Morries afterwards because it was raining.

Stewed apples this morning. There was far more than P would eat in a week and I've no room in the freezer so I've bottled some in jam jars. It took me back to the mid 70s when Pand I had just bought our first bungalow. It had a really bountiful apple tree in the very small back garden. I used to stew the apples (I don't think we had a very big freezer, if we had one at all) then bottle the dollop into Kilner jars. They would fill the under bench storage in the kitchen and last P all year.  I have no idea what happened to my Kilner jars. Maybe in a misguided clearing out session they were disposed of. I have my regrets about that. See decluttering is not always a good thing.

I've always frozen my stewed apples never thought of putting them in jars       I've made jams and chutney  but never stewed apples. 
Do  have you got any tips  please ?

Stewed apples this morning. There was far more than P would eat in a week and I've no room in the freezer so I've bottled some in jam jars. It took me back to the mid 70s when Pand I had just bought our first bungalow. It had a really bountiful apple tree in the very small back garden. I used to stew the apples (I don't think we had a very big freezer, if we had one at all) then bottle the dollop into Kilner jars. They would fill the under bench storage in the kitchen and last P all year.  I have no idea what happened to my Kilner jars. Maybe in a misguided clearing out session they were disposed of. I have my regrets about that. See decluttering is not always a good thing.

I've always frozen my stewed apples never thought of putting them in jars       I've made jams and chutney  but never stewed apples. 
Do  have you got any tips  please ?

I'm trying to remember what I used to do with kilners. I can't remember water baths or anything, so I believe all I did was stew up the apple, sterilise the jars in the oven, and the rings and seals in boiling water, then pot up like you would a jam or chutney.   This last leek I didn't have any 2lb jars so filled up several 1lb  saved jars and sealed with their own screw tops. The tops have popped so I'm hoping they'll keep. It worked with hot blackberry couli. Time will tell. Grandma used to bottle everything and the pantry was lined with large jars of this and that.  I can't remember her even having a fridge!

Thanks JJB, I've got a box of jam jars and I'll nip out to pick apples if it ever stops raining.

My mum didn't have a fridge until 1967 everything was on a slab in the pantry,  even the turkey    that seemed to last until easter.

More weeding and clearing on VPs 5 & 6. Some GH tidying of toms.

A little bit of weeding, rock splitting, moved a big lorry tarpaulin and strimmed the area it had been sat. Ready for a delivery of manure. It didn’t happen today, hopefully soon. Finished edging the crescent bed with rocks. Started edging the fence bed. Collected seeds, hopefully for the swap. If anyone wants white scabious.

A day of playing with seeds. Seed cleaning & bagging, seed collecting, seed sowing. And a good bit of seed juggling.