Is it just me or are pickles one of the greatest vegetables ever? especially ones that you have grown yourself in your own garden.
How to Grow your own Dill Pickles
Growing pickling cucumbers is very easy and they should be ready to pick roughly between 50-60 days from planting. Pickling cucumbers can be grown in rows or hills. Generally, I will just grow them in rows due to the way my garden is set up. Plant them 1 1/2″ deep, 2″ to 3″ apart. They are heavy feeders so provide plenty of fertilizer high in nitrogen.
Cucumbers will grow quickly; encourage new growth by picking regularly. If you leave them too long, they could slow/stop producing.
Making your own homemade dill pickles is not difficult. In fact, you might be surprised at just how easy it is. let’s find out:
How to Make your own Dill Pickles
- 3 pickling cucumbers 4-4½" long, but no longer
- ¼ oz fresh dill a few sprigs per jar
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic crushed with the side of a knife
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp whole mustard seeds
- ¼ tsp whole black peppercorns
- Wash cucumbers and cut them into spears or slices.
- Place into a wide-mouth pint-sized canning jar or any clean glass jar. Since these are refrigerator pickles a canning jar is not necessary.
- Add several sprigs of fresh dill in between the cucumbers.
- In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, garlic cloves, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, and peppercorns.
- Bring to a boil and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Pour liquid over cucumbers in the jar.
- Make sure to include all the mustard seeds, peppercorns, and garlic.
- Close the jar and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours but preferably 48 hours.
- Enjoy!
These are not shelf-stable, so they will need to be kept in the refrigerator. They should keep for about two months if you don’t eat them all before that!
Until Next Time,
Live Your Best Life.
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