Gardening Tips: What to Do If You Have Too Much Produce

I love my garden, but this year I have produced way more tomatoes then I could use. I came up with a few simple tips to make sure that you don't have to throw out a single rotten tomato this year.

Canning:

You can can your produce to use later on in the year. We do this all the time. I love canning stewed tomatoes and then breaking them out in the dead of winter. Nothing beats a fresh tasting tomato in December. For information on how to can check out the following websites: Fresh Preserving, pickyourown.org, or canning food recipes.

The best part of canning is that cans of jams or home made past sauces make great gifts fro friends and family. Your homemade raspberry jam can become a family tradition that your Aunt Mary will look forward to year after year.

Freezing:

Much like canning freezing is a fabulous way to allow you to enjoy your foods year round. I keep a deep freezer down our basement and stock it up with freezer bags full of tomato sauce that I make from my garden tomatoes and herbs. The best part of this is that I know all of the products in these sauces are organic and I know what I am giving to my family.

The downfall of freezing is that the packaging will not be nearly as pretty as canned sauces, but if you aren't giving it away as a gift, well then does it really matter that it is not as fancy?

Neighborhood Vegetable Exchange:

I have a neighbor who grows chili peppers and I grow tomatoes. Every year we do a vegetable exchange. I swap him my tomatoes for his chili's this is a great way to grow what you love and are good at growing, and let your neighbor do the same. That way I know I will never have to master the skill of growing chili's and he will never have to deal with staking up tomato plants.

This is something that can go beyond a neighbor to neighbor swap. Get together with friends from you local co-op or any other group you belong to and trade your veggies on a grander scale.

Food Banks:

If you don't have the time to can, freeze, or swap, or simply don't care for either of these methods call around to your local food banks. You might be suprised to find that many of your local food banks do accept fresh produce. Open up that phone book today and start calling around.

Don't forget to pat yourself on the back for such a great growing season, you deserve it if you have an overabundance of produce!