Top Books on Vegetables and Vegetable Gardening1. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew This is a classic gardening book. Although I give some plants more room than he suggests this is a great resource on dense planting and getting more harvest out of a small space. 2. Epic Tomatoes: How to Select & Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig LeHoullier Tomatoes are one of my favorite plants to grow in my garden so this is one of my favorite gardening books. Epic Tomatoes is a great resource from a tomato expert and on how to grow tomatoes, save seeds, and even breed your own varieties. I also love the list at the end of the book on his favorite 250 varieties. I have yet to even grow 250 varieties, much less have 250 favorites! My only caveat in this book is to not follow his method of canning tomatoes. He claims he still follows the basics of the Ball Blue Book but then states he does not bother to remove the tomato skins. Unless otherwise specified (a very, very few canning recipes allow the skins to remain) all tomatoes must have their skins removed before canning. The skins can harbor high levels of bacteria which can potentially cause your canned goods to go bad or even make you sick. If you do not want the hassle of removing skins, simply freeze your product instead of canning it. See my previous post on safe canning if you wish to learn more. 3. Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar I use this book as a reference guide when I wish to identify an insect or learn more about a specific one. This book contains almost 700 pages of pictures and information on the majority of insects that can affect gardens in North America. I used this book to help me identify a thrips problem in my hydroponic grow system 4. Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers by Ron L. Engeland This is one of those books that I feel like I have had forever, at least since I was a teenager (I was a gardening nerd even then). The title says it all, if you want to grow great garlic, read this book. This is a comprehensive guide to growing garlic that will help you determine which varieties to grow, how and when to plant, what to use for fertilizer, and more. 5. How to Grow Vegetables Organically by Jeff Cox & the Editors of Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine I use this as a reference guide when I need to look up specific growing requirements, fertilizers, soil types, watering guides, and more for certain vegetables. Although this is an older book and I wouldn’t mind updating to a newer organic grower’s guide, this book is still full of valuable information on basic gardening. A great all-purpose guide to gardening. 6. Saving Seeds: The Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds by Marc Rogers This is a great starting guide if you are interested in saving seeds. It covers everything from easy plants like tomatoes and peppers to difficult-to-save seeds due to cross-pollination like squashes and pumpkins. It also covers cleaning, storing, and testing the germination of the seeds you save. 7. The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman Although this book is still in my to-be-read pile (I hope to get to it this year), Eliot Coleman is well known for his Winter Harvest Handbook and Four-Season Harvest books which explain how to extend your gardening season. 8. Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes by Deborah Madison This is more a cookbook than a growing guide but still full of valuable information. Vegetable literacy is a large volume containing descriptions of the different edible plant families with beautiful pictures and tasty recipes. If you want to learn more about the plant families you are growing in your garden, this is the book for you.
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Top Books on Native Plants and the Environment This is a list of my top books regarding native plants and/or the environment. Some of these books I have read in their entirety, others I use as reference books but did not read all the way through, and a couple are still on my "to be read" pile, although I have at least browsed through them. If I have written in more detail about any of these books I will link to those blog posts for further reading. As I grow my library of native plant books I will add to this list. 1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy This book is great for anyone interested in learning more about the benefits of native plants to the environment, particularly in regards to feeding insect life, which in turn feeds birds. For more information, including a summary of the book, please see my blog post here. 3. Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm 3. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Although this book was written in 1962, much of the information, particularly its warnings about overuse of pesticides and their ability to bioaccumulate, is still relevant today. Rachel Carson meticulously collected data on the side effects of DDT and as a direct result of this book its use was eventually banned. 5. The Midwestern Native Garden: native alternatives to nonnative flowers and plants by Charlotte Adelman & Bernard L. Schwartz This book is a great reference if you wish to replace non-native or invasive plants with similar looking native plants that also have similar growing conditions to their non-native counterpart. 6. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy  Aronia juice in a half-gallon jar. Aronia WineAronia berries (Aronia melanocarpa) or chokeberries are berries native to the United States. They grow on a bush known for its ornamental value (red/orange leaves in the fall) and its fruit. The berries are bitter and tannic but are considered by many to be healthy due to their very high levels of anthocyanin, an antioxidant. For more information on the berries see my previous blog post on “Aronia Berries.” I have used the berries in limited quantities in smoothies but wanted to experiment with making 100% Aronia wine. Due to the tannic nature of the berries, I am planning on using the wine to blend with my Marquette wine, which tends to be lower in tannins, to see if blending can improve the wine. In the past, I have also thrown a few berries into my elderberry wine ferments but I would like to do a more controlled experiment where I blend known amounts of the different wines. If you are new to fermenting, I recommend checking out my blog post on “The Basics of Fermenting Wine” and feel free to message me with any questions. Steam Juicing Aronia Berries
To steam juice, you add the fruit to the top colander-type compartment. Add water to the bottom of the juicer and start heating the fruit. Once the fruit softens and starts releasing the juice, it will flow into the middle compartment of the juicer and out of the attached tube. I collect the juice in half-gallon jars. Most juicing takes 1-2 hours to complete. Ensure that water remains in the bottom pan the entire time to avoid warping the pan. Stirring or pressing the fruit is not recommended since it can add small amounts of pulp or seeds to the juice, making it less clear. If I plan to ferment the juice into wine, I do not care about cloudy juice since it will be clarified as it ages. Therefore, I usually stir the pulp or scoop it out, mix the pulp with a little water, and crush it with a potato masher or spoon a second time to release more color and juice. I then add the pulp and water back to the top of the juicer and let the steam extract a little more juice. This will add water to the juice, but I usually add a little water to my fruit wines anyway. The general rule of thumb is 3-5 pounds of fruit per gallon of wine although there is nothing wrong with using 100% juice and it will make a more flavorful wine. Once you have extracted as much juice as possible, let it cool (I put the jar in cool water in the sink to cool it down faster, being careful not to crack the jar) before starting your fermentation. You can also refrigerate or freeze the juice to ferment later.  Aronia berries in the top compartment of a steam juicer. The steam is just starting to extract the juice. When complete the berries will have lost most of their color. Making Wine from Aronia Juice I used 1 gallon of Aronia juice with a starting pH of 3.13 and Brix (percent sugar) of 9.9. I added sugar to get a final Brix of 22.6 which should give an alcohol content of ~12.4% (multiply the Brix by 0.55 to get a rough alcohol percentage). I tried testing the total acidity (TA) but the results did not seem accurate, most likely from the color intensity of the juice (it is a colorimetric assay). My recipe is below: 1 gallon Aronia juice 1 tsp pectic enzyme 1 tsp yeast nutrient RC-212 yeast I did not add a Campden tablet since the juice was sterilized from steam juicing but if you add one, wait 24 hours before pitching your yeast. I used Lalvin Bourgovin RC212 yeast which I have used for elderberry wine with good results. This yeast is typically used to ferment red wines, has an alcohol tolerance of up to 16%, and ferments well at 64-86°F. Other yeast options include Red Star Premier Rouge (64-86°F; 14% alcohol tolerance) or Lalvin EC-1118 (50-86°F; 18% alcohol tolerance). I fermented the juice in a 2-gallon bucket with an airlock. The airlock bubbled for about 2 weeks indicating fermentation was occurring. If you do not see bubbling it is likely that there is a leak in your lid, if you see bubbles when stirring the wine fermentation is likely occurring. When fermentation slowed, I racked the wine into a 1-gallon glass carboy. After racking, I added 1 Campden tablet plus 18 grams of medium toast French oak cubes. The recommendation from the oak cube manufacturer is to oak for 3-4 months.  Aronia juice in a 2-gallon fermentation bucket. After two months I racked again to remove the lees that had settled to the bottom and added another Campden tablet. The pH was 3.51 which is good for red wine (recommended pH is 3.4-3.6). I tasted the wine at this point, it was extremely dry/tannic which given the taste of the berries is not surprising. I used our 2023 Marquette wine to top off the Aronia wine to eliminate headspace in the carboy since I do not have a previous vintage of Aronia wine to use. Since I plan to use the Aronia wine to blend into our Marquette wine anyway, I figured this was the best choice of wine to use to top off. Future PlansI plan to rack the Aronia wine and add an additional Campden tablet every 3 months for about a year. Once lees stop accumulating at the bottom of the carboy I will cold stabilize for a month or two in the refrigerator or outside (if it is still winter). Next fall I will do blending tests with the Marquette wine to see if blending improves the Marquette wine, Aronia wine, or both wines. If blending improves the Marquette wine, I will blend a larger batch and bottle. I will update this post or write a new one when I have those results. Aronia BerriesAronia is a genus of shrubs that reach 4-6 feet high (4) in the Rosaceae or rose family. Aronia plants are commonly called chokeberries due to the tannic, astringent, bitter flavor of their berries. Chokeberries are different than chokecherries, which are also in the Rosaceae family but in the Prunus genus which includes domesticated cherries and wild black cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, almonds, apricots, and more. There are three species of Aronia, red, black, and a hybrid of the two, the purple chokeberry. Black chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, is the most common and can be found (along with several cultivars) at nurseries, greenhouses, and even big box stores. Red chokeberry, Aronia arbutifolia, and purple chokeberry, Aronia prunifolia, are less common, but all three are native to the eastern United States and Canada, extending as far west as the eastern part of the Midwest. A. arbutifolia even extends into Texas in the south. See the Bonap Maps for more details (1). Chokeberries are often grown as ornamental plants due to their pretty foliage, particularly in the fall when the leaves turn orange and red (4). They are also a good replacement for commonly grown invasive shrubs (6). Nandinia is an invasive shrub that produces bright red berries. Red chokeberry is a good native alternative that has similar red berries. The flowers of the Aronia bushes are also useful for pollinators and the berries are eaten by birds, generally in the winter months (4).  A half-gallon jar of Aronia juice after steam juicing the berries from our black chokeberry bushes. The dark color is from the anthocyanin-rich skin of the berries. We planted two black chokeberries several years ago. We occasionally pick the berries to use in smoothies or our wine, in limited numbers due to their bitter taste. This fall (2024) we are experimenting with 100% Aronia wine, which we will likely use to blend into our Marquette or elderberry wine. You can also buy Aronia juice, wine, jam, and other commercial products made with Aronia berries. Chokeberries prefer full sun and moist soil (4). Although Aronia bushes can tolerate drier soil, their berry yield may be lower under these conditions. They are self-fertile so you only need to plant one bush to produce berries (4). Aronia bushes grow well in zones 3-8 (4) and we have had no trouble with winter die-off in zone 4b. We have had a problem with deer eating our plants but as long as you protect the plants when young and the browsing isn’t too severe the plant recovers well. We try to reduce the deer pressure by spraying our bushes with Liquid Fence, which works if you apply it consistently, particularly after hard rains. Rabbits are also supposed to enjoy chewing on the branches, but we have very few rabbits on our property due to high predator pressure. Aronia berries are well known for their high levels of anthocyanins, which gives them their dark color. They have some of the highest levels of anthocyanins known in plants. Anthocyanins can also be found in other berries such as cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, and purple vegetables such as purple cauliflower, red cabbage, and eggplant (technically a fruit). In addition to anthocyanins, Aronia berries also contain many other polyphenols. Foods containing polyphenols, such as anthocyanins, are considered to be health foods due to their antioxidant properties. The berries purportedly help with various cardiovascular diseases (2), diabetes (3), hypertension, cancer, etc. However, as with most nutritional and supplement studies, it is difficult to prove that antioxidants in fruits and vegetables are directly beneficial to the human body. One study that reviewed several randomized clinical trials that looked at berry polyphenols found no significant effect on the gut microbiota or high blood pressure (5). Regardless, I believe most medical doctors would agree that increasing brightly colored fruits and vegetables in the American diet is a good idea. References and Resources
Blossom End Rot in TomatoesMost gardeners have probably experienced blossom end rot, particularly in tomatoes. It is a frustrating disorder because it is physiological and not caused by a pathogen or insect that can be treated with a spray. Blossom end rot mostly affects tomatoes and peppers but can also be found in eggplants, watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash. Blossom end rot affects the blossom side of the fruit, which is the side opposite the stem. The blossom end develops a water-soaked spot that turns blackened and leathery, then rots, making the fruit inedible. Particularly in peppers, it can be confused with sunscald because the rot can occur slightly to the side of the blossom end of the pepper, not always directly at the blossom end. Some tomato varieties are more susceptible to blossom end rot, particularly many paste types, and it can even occur internally with no visible blemishes outside. Other varieties are more resistant (see below). Blossom end rot frequently occurs early in the season and can later disappear with subsequent fruit set. What Causes Blossom End Rot?Many people believe if you add calcium to your soil when planting your tomatoes you will avoid blossom end rot. Although this idea is based on fact, it is not the whole story. Some add a calcium-rich fertilizer specifically designed for tomatoes, others add eggshells (which take too long to break down to be helpful, so compost them instead), or even Tums, which contain calcium carbonate. Although a localized calcium deficiency is the cause of blossom end rot, specifically, a lack of calcium in the fruit, it is rarely due to a lack of calcium in the soil. Most soils have plenty of calcium, get a soil test done to be sure, but it is not always available to be taken up by the plants. Unfortunately, many factors can prevent calcium uptake by the plant. Most commonly, alternating dry and wet soil conditions can prevent calcium uptake but also overly wet or dry soil for a long period, too high or too low pH, high concentrations of certain nutrients such as ammonia, magnesium, or potassium, soil that is too cold, too much salt in the soil, or damage to a plant’s roots, either from infection or mechanical disruption. Water-soluble calcium enters the plant via transpiration, the process by which plants lose water above ground, usually via the leaves, which causes moisture to be pulled, along with minerals and nutrients, such as calcium, from below ground. Calcium is most easily transported to the leaves, but any water that enters the fruit also brings along calcium and other nutrients. If most of the calcium enters the leaves, there is no way to later get it from the leaves to the fruit. Only water that moves from the ground directly to the fruit will bring calcium into the fruit. Therefore, overfertilizing, especially with ammonia-based fertilizers, will encourage leaf growth, and make the lack of calcium in the fruit even worse. Anything that also limits transpiration, such as too high or even too low humidity along with windy, hot weather makes less calcium enter the fruits. How Do You Control Blossom End Rot?The two easiest things to control are how much and how often you water and how much and what kind of fertilizer you use. You cannot control how much rain your garden receives but you can water regularly (I prefer drip irrigation or soaker hoses) during dry periods, at least 1 inch per week. Use nitrate-based fertilizers, not ammonia-based, or better yet, use compost which releases nutrients more slowly, and do not over-fertilize with potassium or magnesium. A soil test is helpful to know what you should and should not add. A soil test will also tell you if you need to alter the pH of your soil. A pH of 6.5-6.8 is ideal, significantly above or below that level can make it difficult for a plant to take up nutrients. Proper soil drainage will also help prevent waterlogged soil and prevent salt from building up in your soil. Also, avoid cultivating the soil close to the roots, instead, mulch to prevent weeds and foliar disease. Tomato Varieties That Resist Blossom End Rot Certain tomato varieties are more resistant to blossom end rot than other varieties. For example, pear/plum-type paste tomatoes are notorious for developing blossom end rot, I stopped growing the Roma variety specifically for this reason. Other varieties I found published that are particularly susceptible to blossom end rot include Big Boy, Castle King, Fantastic, Independence, Supersonic, Surprise, Whopper, and Wonder Boy (https://ipm.illinois.edu/diseases/series900/rpd906/). I have not grown any of these varieties, so I have no personal experience as to whether they are resistant or not. Varieties reported to be more resistant include Celebrity, Fresh Pak, Jet Star, Manapal, Mountain Pride, Pik Red, Sunny, and Winter. I grow Celebrity every year and have never had blossom end rot, not even in the summer of 2023 when we were in a drought or the summer of 2024 when it rained constantly. I have also grown Jet Star and do not recall blossom end rot being a problem. References and Resources
 How to Overwinter Fall CropsEven in zone 4B in central Wisconsin, I have managed to get certain vegetables to overwinter. One important point is that there is a difference between overwintering vegetables and actively growing them. Temperature is not the only consideration for plants to grow. The total amount of sunlight is also a big concern. The “Persephone Period” sometimes called “Persephone Days” is the time period when days have 10 or fewer hours of daylight. Most plants need a minimum of 10 hours or more of sunlight for vegetative growth. During the “Persephone Period” plant growth slows or completely stops even if temperatures remain above freezing. For me, November 5th is the first day with less than 10 hours of sunlight and I will not go above 10 hours of daylight until February 5th. Most of this time it is too cold to grow anything anyway, but even if I had a heated greenhouse I could not grow much unless I also gave the plants supplemental light. You can check out this site to find your day lengths. So why bother overwintering vegetables if they are not going to grow much anyway? Basically, overwintering allows you to have fresh vegetables either in the middle of winter or earlier in spring than you otherwise would. Additionally, many root vegetables like parsnips and carrots taste better after a period of cold weather. I have been able to successfully overwinter spinach, kale, leeks, parsnips, and carrots, although the spinach and kale do look a little rough in the spring, but fresh growth usually starts as soon as the daylight increases and temperatures warm. One important point is that you want to harvest your vegetables fairly early in the spring or there is a risk of them going to seed. Once they start going to seed the root vegetables will be woody and the greens can get bitter. The two things I do to overwinter my vegetables are frost covers and mulching. I put layers of mulch, usually leaves, over my vegetables, I try for about a foot thick, but I have read if you go even deeper, 3 to 4 feet thick, you can dig root vegetables all winter long. We usually get too much snow to easily clear away the snow and leaves to dig so I generally just leave them there all winter and uncover in the spring. The second thing I use is frost covers. I started buying higher quality frost covers from A. M. Leonard or Johnny’s Selected Seeds which last longer than cheaper frost covers. Regardless, do plan to replace your frost covers occasionally as they get holes or tear. You can buy frost in various thicknesses which can give you a degree or two of protection up to 5-10 degrees. I also use frost covers in the fall to protect my crops from any early hard frosts. If you are still getting enough sunlight to grow crops you may not want frost covers too thick because these also block sunlight. Each frost cover description should give you the thickness, the degrees of protection and how much sunlight is blocked. So, it is a balance between enough frost protection and enough sunlight. For overwintering, I lay the frost covers over my mulched vegetables and weigh down the sides to keep cold air out and to keep them from blowing away. In the spring, once temperatures have warmed up enough, I pull away all the mulch but leave my frost covers over my vegetables to provide some protection. As soon as the ground thaws you can dig up your root vegetables. Greens and onions can be eaten as soon as they start to perk up, grow a little, and basically look edible. Also, as long as the ground is thawed make sure to water if needed. Vegetables should be well watered before covering them up, but you do not want standing water which could allow them to rot. Many plants die over the winter not from the cold but from drying out in the cold winter air and winds. Frost covers also help keep the cold wind from penetrating into your plants. The last consideration is what varieties of vegetables to choose. I have had good luck with Vates kale but I have had Red Russian kale die at 17°F. Blue Solaise leeks routinely overwinter for me although a few may rot. I have gotten Winter Giant Spinach to overwinter as well as Hollow Crown parsnips and any fall/winter carrot variety such as Oxheart, Kuroda, and Chantenay. Resources and References
Tomato Varieties
I have attempted to organize the tomatoes I have grown into charts depending on whether the tomato is a paste/oxheart, slicer/beefsteak, salad/cocktail, dwarf, or cherry/grape type tomato. Some tomatoes may fit in multiple charts, for example, a cherry tomato may also fit into the dwarf tomato category. In these cases, I try to include them in both charts. I will continue to add in more tomato varieties as time allows. If you have a favorite tomato variety not listed, please let me know and I will add it to my charts.
In addition to variety, I include whether that tomato is open-pollinated or hybrid. I abbreviate open-pollinated as OP and hybrid as F1. Open-pollinated plants include all tomatoes in which seeds can be saved and will grow true the following year (assuming cross-pollination has not occurred). This includes all heirloom tomatoes. I have included the days to maturity for each tomato variety as well, although these numbers can vary widely depending on environmental factors such as where you live, weather that year, the amount of rain, etc. I also designate whether the tomato plant is determinate (Det), indeterminate (Ind), semi-determinate (Semi-det), or dwarf (can be determinate or indeterminate). Indeterminate plants keep growing and can get very large, even up to 12 feet tall. They will continue to bloom and set fruit up until the first frost. Determinate plants stop growing at a certain height, often 2-4 feet tall and set their fruit around the same time. Many gardeners who can or freeze tomatoes or tomato products like determinate plants because you can harvest large numbers of tomatoes at the same time. Semi-determinate plants are, not surprisingly, in between the other two categories. These plants grow all season long like indeterminate plants but are more compact. They do grow taller than true determinate plants though. ​ I include any disease resistance, if known. Common diseases include fusarium wilt 1 or 2 (FW1 or FW2), verticillium wilt (VW), tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), early blight, and late blight. I also include any other noteworthy information, such as the color of the tomato, the type of foliage (potato-leaf or rugose/wrinkled), any awards the tomato has received such as being an All America Selections (AAS) winner, as well as my personal observations. However, what I notice in my garden can vary widely compared to what you may observe in your garden, it can even vary from year to year. How much rain that falls during a growing season, temperatures, and even diseases observed can vary based on location, weather patterns, etc. Diseases that affect tomatoes in my typically humid summers may not cause problems for gardeners in Arizona. And gardeners in the southwest may have problems with tomatoes not setting fruit in their brutally hot summers that I just do not see in my relatively cool Wisconsin summers that rarely get above 90°F. Taste can also vary not just based on weather patterns but personal preferences as well. I do not like overly sweet tomatoes, I prefer well-balanced sweet, but also slightly acidic type tomatoes. Paste and Oxheart Tomatoes
Paste tomatoes are generally used for sauce because they are less juicy, meaty tomatoes, usually with fewer seeds. They are oblong, pear, plum, hot pepper, sausage, or heart shaped. Many traditional paste tomatoes are less flavorful when eaten fresh but improve when cooked. There are, however, many heirloom paste tomatoes with improved flavor.
0 Cherry and Grape Tomatoes
Dwarf Tomatoes
​Tomato plants are considered “dwarfâ€
The Basics of Fermenting WineFermentation is anaerobically (without oxygen) breaking down sugars into alcohol or lactic acid. Carbon dioxide gas is often produced as a byproduct. Fermentation by bacteria or yeast is used to make a variety of foods such as yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, some hot sauces, kimchi, kombucha, wine, and beer. There are two ways to perform alcoholic fermentation: naturally occurring wild yeast or commercially available yeast that you add to a ferment. I prefer using commercially available yeast as your ferment has less risk of spoilage or off flavors. However, many people enjoy trying wild ferments. When to Pick Your Grapes There are several factors that determine when to pick your grapes: Brix, pH, and TA. Brix is the percent sugar. I try for 24% for my red wine grapes to get a ~14% ABV. The higher the starting sugar, the higher the potential alcohol concentration at the end of fermentation, assuming you ferment to dryness. You generally want at least 18-19 Brix for white wines to end up with 10-11% ABV. pH is the strength of the acid in the grape juice. A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and higher than 7 is alkaline or basic. White wines are generally more acidic than red wines, with a pH usually between 3.0-3.4. Red wines ideally are between pH 3.3-3.6. If you are using fruits other than wine grapes you may need to significantly alter the Brix and/or pH to achieve an acceptable wine. Total acidity or TA is the amount of acid in a solution, but, as stated above, pH is how strong that acid is. You could have a lot of acid that is not very strong, or you could have relatively small amounts of a stronger acid. TA is measured in grams per liter (g/L), not the pH scale. Wines grown in northern climates tend to have a lower Brix, higher pH (more acidic), and higher TA (more acid in total). As the grapes mature, their sugar concentration increases, and their acid levels decrease. Last year (2023) we picked our grapes early because they were being destroyed by birds and then wasps. We bought bird netting before we realized the wasps were also a problem. Because we picked early, our Brix was low (~18), as was our pH (~3.0), for red wine. We added sugar to achieve a Brix closer to 24. Our TA was also what would be considered high for grapes grown in California (~9 g/L), but this was actually surprisingly low for Marquette grapes. This year (2024) we bought insect netting that kept the majority of birds and wasps off our ripening grapes and so we picked later in the season. Final numbers after crushing the grapes were 22 Brix (the grapes tested at 24 but we only sampled a few grapes, not entire clusters), 3.4 for pH, and 11+ g/L for TA. The TA is too high, but in line with what you generally see for Marquette grapes, but the pH and Brix were better. I again added a little sugar to achieve roughly 24 Brix. I am hoping that by using a yeast that reduces acidity (see discussion below) and following alcoholic fermentation with malolactic fermentation, I can reduce the TA to a more acceptable level. Yeast SelectionWhat yeast you choose depends on many factors including what type of wine, beer, or cider you want to ferment, what alcohol content you are hoping to achieve, what temperatures you will be fermenting at, etc. There are specific yeasts for beer versus wine and even red, white, or fruit wines. EC-1118 is a commonly used yeast because it has high alcohol tolerance (up to 18%), it rarely gets stuck (stops fermenting), gives a neutral flavor, ferments at a large temperature range (45-95°F), and is good for a variety of wine styles even though it is traditionally considered a champagne yeast. It is commonly used for reds, whites, and cider as well. EC-1118 is not a good choice if you want to follow alcoholic fermentation with malolactic fermentation as they are not compatible and high alcohol levels can also inhibit malolactic fermentation. I use Lalvin 71B for my Marquette wine (even though it is traditionally used for white wines) because it is compatible with malolactic fermentation, which is commonly used for red wines, especially acidic grapes like Marquette. Both 71B and malolactic fermentation reduce the overall acidity (TA) of wine. 71B can neutralize up to 40% of malic acid found in juice and malolactic fermentation can neutralize much of the rest, creating a smoother wine. One potential disadvantage of 71B is that its alcohol tolerance is 14%. If you want higher alcohol wine, this is not a good choice. Other options for red wine include Bourgovin RC-212, Premier Rouge, and ICV D254. I have used RC-212 for my elderberry wine with good results. Fruit wines (other than grape) are often fermented with K1-V1116 but it can also be used for white wine. Other traditional white wine yeast includes Premier Blanc, Cote des Blancs, and ICV-D47. Grifo brand grape crusher/de-stemmer (left), wine press we bought used (center), air lock bubbling on the lid of a fermentation bucket (right). Equipment and Supplies You can either buy your equipment and supplies individually or many homebrew shops sell kits with much of the equipment and grape juice, or beer ingredients included. What kind of equipment you need depends on what you want to brew, wine or beer, but they do share much in common. I have only brewed beer from kits (I have never done all-grain brewing) but I have made wines from both kits and whole fruit. Most techniques are similar; however, beer uses grain or grain/malt extracts while wine uses whole fruit or juice. Here I will cover the basics of general wine fermentation as that is what I have the most experience with, but I also plan to post about making wine from our Marquette grapes in particular in the future.
Marquette grapes in the hopper of the crusher/de-stemmer (left), grape juice, skins, and seeds after crushing (center), wine ready to be pressed in a mesh bag (left). Where to Buy Fermentation Equipment, Supplies, and Kits Where to buy fermentation supplies depends on where you are located. I often buy from a local shop, however, it is not a designated brew shop, so their supplies for some products are limited. For more specialized supplies I need to buy online.
 Our first glass of Marquette wine fermented from our grapes in central Wisconsin. How to FermentIf you bought a wine kit your best option is to follow the instructions that came with the kit. Here I will cover the basics of making fruit wine from scratch, either using grapes or other fruits.
References and Resources
What Apples Should You Use?Sweet cider is, not surprisingly, made with sweeter apples. Chances are if you like to eat the apple fresh you will probably also like it as cider. Feel free to refer to my blog post on apple varieties to see what varieties are generally used for particular purposes but, almost any apple can be made into cider. Some advice I have seen multiple times is that the best apple cider is made from free apples; basically use what you can get. The best hard cider is made with a combination of tannic/bitter, sweet (low tannin/low acid), and sharp/acidic apples. Sweet cider can be made with sweet or sweet/sharp apples, but tannic apples are generally not used. Last year we made a Honeycrisp cider, this year we made a Honeycrisp and a McIntosh cider. Both were tasty but the Honeycrisp was sweeter and the McIntosh, while sweet was also a little more acidic. McIntosh apples (left) and Honeycrisp (right) that we turned into fresh apple cider. Cleaning Your Apples and EquipmentI scrub my apples with a vegetable brush with some distilled white vinegar in the water. I also pick out any bad apples. You can cut out minor holes or spots, but you do not want apples that have started to rot as it will give an off flavor to your cider, and it is also unsafe. It is also not recommended to use apples that have dropped from the tree as there will be a higher bacterial load on drops. We clean all our equipment well and spray it down with potassium metabisulfite (which we use for our winemaking). For fresh cider we rinse off the metabisulfite but for hard cider, it does not need to be rinsed (unless you are trying to do a wild yeast ferment) as you generally add potassium metabisulfite anyway before pitching your yeast the next day. You can also use StarSan or OneStep sanitizer which is also used in brewing beer. If you do not have these sanitizers, you can just scrub your equipment well with dish soap and rinse really well with hot water. Apples ground with a food processor (left) are ground more finely than with a manual apple grinder (right) from Roots and Harvest (LEM). How to Make Cider Ideally, to make apple cider you will have an apple grinder and a fruit press, however, you can make it without those pieces of equipment. Last year we rough chopped our apples and then used a food processor to grind up the apples. The advantage of this method is that I think it created more juice since the apples were ground up pretty well, the big disadvantage is that it took a long time and lots of chopping. This year we bought a Roots and Harvest (sold by LEM) apple/fruit grinder. The advantage of this grinder is that it was faster, but the disadvantages are that I think we got less juice out and it wasn't as easy to turn the handle as I expected. Large apples still had to be cut in half, but it was much less work than chopping them for the food processor. Getting the grinder moving first and putting in only a small number of apple halves at a time did make it easier to turn. However, if you are planning on processing a large volume of apples, an electric grinder, while expensive, would be much faster and easier. Alternatives I have read about for grinding apples are pre-freezing them which breaks the cell walls releasing the juice when they thaw or using a new kitchen garbage disposal or woodchipper. Since garbage disposals and woodchippers are not designed to be food-safe, I prefer using equipment that is specially designed for food. Pre-freezing apples requires free freezer space, which is not always available. This year we tried freezing small apples whole and cutting the large apples in half before freezing them. We use food safe 5 gallon bags that we use to freeze our elderberries and grapes before processing them so we used them for the apple halves as well. We have not yet ground and pressed these apples (thaw them first!) but I will update this post when we do. After you grind all your apples put them in a mesh bag. You can hang your bag, let the juice drip out, and then manually squeeze out extra juice at the end or use a press. Since we make wine, we already had a grape press, so we put the ground apples in the mesh bag, pressed them, and collected all the juice as it ran out of the press. A Roots and Harvest (LEM) apple/fruit grinder (left), ground apples in a mesh bag placed in the fruit press (center), blocks of wood on the top of the press to allow pressing of smaller batches (right). Pasteurizing your Cider After pressing you may want to pasteurize your cider. To legally sell fresh cider in the United States it must be pasteurized. If you are making cider for your consumption, you do not have to pasteurize it. If the very young, very old, or anyone immunocompromised will drink the cider I highly recommend pasteurizing it. Unpasteurized cider can be contaminated with E. coli or other bacteria. To pasteurize cider, heat it to 160-185°F for at least 1 minute. If you will store it in glass jars, be careful pouring hot cider into them as thermal shock can cause the jars to break. I recommend having clean, warmed jars ready to pour the hot cider into so there is less chance of thermal shock. Pasteurized cider can be stored in a refrigerator for up to one week. If you choose not to pasteurize you should drink it within a day or two. Long-Term Storage of CiderTo store cider long-term, I recommend freezing it. You may also can cider for long-term storage, but heating cider to can it turns cider into apple juice (at least in regards to flavor). References and Resources
Pepper Varieties
I have compiled a list of pepper varieties I have grown or have seeds but have yet to plant. I split the varieties into two charts: hot and sweet peppers. I will add to these charts as I try new varieties and will also try to add the most common varieties whether I have grown them or not. In general, I do not grow the super-hot varieties, although that may change in the future.
In the chart, OP means open-pollinated or seeds that can be saved and will grow true (assuming no cross-pollination). F1 refers to hybrid seeds, which are crosses from two different varieties. These seeds are generally not saved because they are not likely to grow like the parent varieties, even if cross-pollination does not occur. As you can see from the chart I highly prefer open-pollinated varieties as I like to save seed (although I get a lot of cross-pollination because I do not separate my plants). Unless otherwise noted, most varieties are Capsicum annuum, the most common pepper species. Please check out my blog post on the commonly cultivated pepper species for more information on each species. Days to maturity are estimates and may vary depending on where the plants are grown and the weather during that growing season. Days to maturity are the number of days after transplant, add another 8-12 weeks (or more for super hots) if starting from seed. Scoville numbers are in Scoville heat units (SHU) and can vary quite a bit from plant to plant or even from different peppers on the same plant. Environmental conditions such as temperature, water, soil, humidity, sun exposure, and pests can all alter the heat level. The stage of ripening can also change the heat level. Peppers that have the NuMex designation are those that have been created or improved upon by New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute. TMV is tobacco mosaic virus a plant virus that also infects peppers and tomatoes. AAS is an All-America Selections winner. AAS is a non-profit organization that tests how well plants grow. I compiled these lists from various seed companies and other resources listed at the end of this post. Hot Pepper Varieties
Sweet Pepper Varieties
References and Resources
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AuthorIn 2016, my family and I moved from the New York City area to small town Wisconsin. Our move, this website and blog (and our previous Etsy store) is the result of our desire over the past several years to simplify our lives, increase our quality of life, reconnect with nature, and enjoy a more self-sufficient life. I grew up as a country kid in central Pennsylvania working on my grandfather's fruit farm and as a corn "de-tassler" at a local seed farm. My background is in biology where my love of nature originated. I am a former research scientist and professor and have now transitioned to a part-time stay-at-home mom, self-employed tutor, and small business owner. Thank you for taking the time to check out my site. Archives
December 2024
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