SHIFTING ROOTS

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The Best Ways to Pit Sour Cherries (Even without a Cherry Pitter)

I love picking sour cherries, but pitting them afterwards is a terrible chore!! There are so many solutions that promise to be really quick, but do they actually work? And does a traditional cherry pitter actually work on smaller sour cherries?

I’ve taken out all the guess work for you and tested six different methods of pitting cherries, and am sharing the pros and cons of each so you can get pitting those pails of cherries faster.

How do you Pit Cherries?

If you’re brand new to the world of harvesting and preserving fruit, pitting cherries means to remove the seed (or pit) from the cherry. Unfortunately, the pits of cherries are too hard to eat, so you have to pit each and every one.

Last year I tested 6 different methods of pitting:

  • knife
  • chopstick
  • metal straw
  • single cherry pitter
  • multiple cherry pitter
  • crank cherry pitter

While all of them work, I definitely found my favourites! Also, if you want to purchase one of the actual cherry pitters, it’s best to think ahead and purchase a couple of weeks before it’s cherry season. I found last year that if you wait until the season is here, everything is sold out.

Let’s start with the first three. . .

Knives are great because you probably have lots of them and they’re cheap. The process with a knife is messy, but fast enough.

Related: Sour Cherry Jam, Sour Cherry Pie, Sour Cherry Tarts

I was excited to try the chopsticks, but found them cumbersome to use. I think the idea is to push the seed out with the end of the chopstick, but it didn’t work very efficiently for me. I quickly went back to using the knife.

The steel straw was really easy to use, and you could quickly pit many cherries. The pit just falls out and the cherry stays on the straw, so it’s really efficient. (I’ll show you a video below.)

Do Regular Cherry Pitters Actually Work with Sour Cherries?

I was hesitant to use a regular cherry pitter on sour cherries, because of the sour cherries smaller size. To my knowledge, cherry pitters are designed for regular sized sweet cherries. Here’s what happened. . .

Thanks to reader Natalia Stinn for this photo

The six-cherries-at-at-time cherry pitter is very efficient to use. You get great results nearly every time and it gets the job done quickly. The single cherry pitter was really annoying to use. It’s slow going, and the one I bought wasn’t made very well, so the mechanism kept getting stuck.

I was most nervous about using the machine with the crank, but it was surprisingly efficient. Just watch the cherries, as it will occasionally skip a cherry and you’ll end up with a seed (and an intact sour cherry) still in your bowl of cherries.

While these machines are fast, the only downside is the cost and trickiness of finding them in an actual store and not online. If you wait until you need them to purchase, they’re either sold out in person, or take too long to ship–especially in 2020 with the pandemic.

My Favourite Cherry Pitting Hack–No Fancy Equipment Required!

After trying all six methods, my favourite, and the one I recommend to others, is the stainless steel straw. It’s quick, efficient, low-cost, and widely available. Plus, those stainless steel straws have another use, so you’re not just buying something that you’ll only use once a year.

How do you Freeze Sour Pitted Cherries?

Once you’re done cleaning the cherries, it’s time to cook and freeze them. I have two different methods of freezing, depending on what I intend to use my sour cherries for.

If you want to use the cherries a little at a time for things like in yogurt and oatmeal, freeze them on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Make sure you put down a silicone sheet, parchment paper, or plastic wrap first. If you don’t the cherries might be difficult to remove.

For use in baking and pies, I’ll mix them with a little sugar–just a few heaping tablespoons per 4 litre bucket of berries. Enough sugar to preserve the colour, but not enough to obliterate the sour taste. Then I’ll package them in 2 cup and 6 cup amounts in freezer bags.

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How to Freeze Saskatoon Berries

Can you bottle up the taste of summer? Not exactly, but freezing Saskatoon berries for later use comes pretty close. You’ve spent hours in the berry patch picking, now it’s time to clean and freeze those beautiful berries! I’ll show you exactly how to clean and freeze Saskatoon berries, as well as answer a few questions about storing them longer when fresh, and using them in recipes.

P.S. Hey American friends! You might know Saskatoon berries as Juneberries or Serviceberries. It’s all the same berry.

Cleaning Fresh Picked Saskatoon Berries

The best way to cut your work in half is to pick clean when you’re out in the berry patch. That means avoiding twigs, leaves, and any berry that doesn’t look ripe or has been eaten by a bird. While it’s impossible to avoid everything, just being conscious of it will help you avoid way more undesirable berries that you would have had to deal with later.

Once you get home, transfer the berries a little at a time into a cookie sheet or pan in a single layer as shown below:

Then you can easily go through and pick out any undesirable stuff. Once you’ve cleaned a pan, transfer those berries to another bowl and wash them.

Wash them off

Next, I like to transfer the berries into a colander and rinse them under the sink. Gently mix the berries around with your hands to make sure you’re getting everything.

Let the berries air dry on another cookie sheet or other flat and contained surface.

Once they’re dry, pop them into the freezer.

Related: Saskatoon Berry Muffin Recipe

You can freeze them in a thin layer first and then transfer them to bags if you know you’ll be using them a little at a time–like you would if you’re adding them to oatmeal or yogurt.

If you’re freezing them for use in recipes, you can skip that step and freeze them directly in freezer bags. I like to freeze them in 2 cup amounts for baking, and 6 cup amounts for future use in pies.

Do Saskatoon Berries Freeze Well?

Yes! Saskatoon berries freeze very well and work just as well as fresh ones do in recipes. The only application they don’t work as well in is ice cream and popsicles. It might be a bit of personal opinion, but I think the texture of Saskatoon berries just doesn’t taste right in frozen desserts.

What if I don’t have time to process my Saskatoon berries right now?

In a perfect world, we’d all go berry picking early one morning, clean berries in the afternoon, and freeze them by the evening. Unfortunately that’s not everyone’s reality. If I know I can’t get to my berries until the next day or a few days later, I store them in Tupperware fridge smart containers. Yes, they can be pricey, but totally worth the investment. Berries will keep well in these containers for up to 3 weeks.

Do you just want the recipe without having to scroll to the bottom?

Get over 25 of them– using Saskatoon berries, sour cherries, raspberries, rhubarb and more.  For a limited time its only $7–60% off the regular price!

Find out more or buy now!

The 2 Best Ways to Get Rid of Ants Fast–Without Using Harsh Chemicals

Are ant hills suddenly overtaking your lawn and invading your garden? You don’t have to resort to chemicals or ant traps. Step away from that bottle of Raid and try these homemade solutions instead.

The Best Way to Get Rid of Ants in Your House or Lawn

The solution that’s always worked for me is a mixture of one part Borax to one part icing sugar. You can also use regular sugar, or really anything that’s sweet. Mix it together, set it on an old jar lid, and set it near where the ants are. Within a couple of days to a week the ants will be gone.

I’ve found in my yard that doing this keeps ants away for at least two years.

Also, don’t skip the jar lid step if you’re putting it on your lawn. It will kill your grass–I’ve learned this the hard way.

However, for those of you that have kids or pets that get into everything, using Borax is not going to work for you. In that case, move on to option B. . .

Get Rid of Ants the Pet and Kid Friendly Way

If you need to keep your pets and kids safe, sprinkle a generous dose of cornmeal on and around the affected area. The ants will eat the cornmeal, and it will expand too much in their stomachs and kill them.

Thankfully, the same will not happen if your kids or pets get into your cornmeal ant trap. The worst that can happen is that they might eat an ant or some dirt along with the cornmeal.

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Do I need to get rid of the ants on my peony bushes?

You might have noticed that there are ants crawling all over your peony bushes this time of year. Thankfully, you don’t need to set a trap for these particular ants, as the ants won’t harm the peonies. It’s commonly believed that the ants help open the peony buds, but I’ve seen a lot of conflicting information on this, so I can’t say if they actually do or don’t.

Planting Peonies? Here’s everything you need to know

However, if the only ants in your yard are the ones on the peonies and they’re not causing a problem anywhere else, you don’t need to set a trap for those particular ants.

Just maybe don’t plant peony bushes directly against your house. We had a small ant problem in our house that was always during peony season, and once I removed a peony that was too close, we never had an issue again.

How close is too close? Aim for 6 feet/2 meters away (or further) from the house.

Have other pests you need help with? Here’s how to deter the most common pests from your garden.

Get Free Water for Your Garden with this Water Collection System

Many people grow a vegetable garden in part to save money, but a lot of the savings can be lost in a dry year if you constantly have to water with water you pay for. You can easily take matters back into your own hands by building this simple rainwater collection system. We find that one full barrel of rain is enough to water our backyard city garden for approximately a week.

Want to make your own? Here’s how and what you need to know.

What Can You Do With Collected Rainwater?

Unfortunately, you can not drink collected rainwater without a filtration system, especially if you have asphalt shingles on your roof. However, the water you collect is perfect for watering your garden. You can also use it indoors for your houseplants. At the end of the season, I like to save whatever rainwater is left in empty milk jugs, and water my houseplants with it throughout the winter.

Where do you Buy the Rainwater Barrels?

If you’re reading this post, it’s probably safe to assume you’re not going to purchase a rainwater barrel for $80-$150 at a big bog store! We’ve managed to get all of our barrels through places like Kijiji, Craig’s List, or Facebook Marketplace, and we’ve paid as low as $15 and as much as $30.

You’ll need to purchase the other parts at a hardware store.

Tips for Building a Rainwater Collection System

You might be surprised by how quickly your rain barrel will fill up during a rain. A nice medium rain–not a sprinkling or a summer storm–filled up our rain barrel within 3 or 4 hours. This is water from half of our roof on a 1050 sqft. house.

That’s why it’s essential the your barrel have an overflow spout–don’t skip this step!!

We’ve installed bug netting on the top of our system to keep mosquitos from breeding in the water, but there are other methods you can use to keep bugs out and water in.

Finally, it’s best to raise your rainwater harvesting system on a platform of some sort, so you can easily fill up your watering can.

Materials

  • 1 Rain Barrel
  • Tank Faucet Valve
  • 90 Degree Overflow Valve
  • Silicon or Teflon Tape
  • Old hose
  • Bug netting or screen
  • Twine or something to secure the bug netting or screen
  • Downspout material

Tools

  • Drill
  • Drill bits
  • Reciprocating Saw
  • Crescent Wrench

Directions

  1. Cut the top off of the rain barrel with a reciprocating saw or jigsaw.
  2. Near the bottom of the rain barrel, drill out a hole that is the same diameter as the inside of the threads on the valve.
  3. Put some silicon onto the valve threads and the edge of the hole. Screw in the valve until it sits flush against the rain barrel. If the valve comes with a walking nut, be sure to install that on the inside with silicon.
  4. Drill out a hole near the top, and install the overflow valve with the same process. Make sure you check where you want the overflow valve to be before drilling.
  5. Wash and scrub out the inside of the rain barrel as best you can to remove any plastic debris or residue from its previous use.
  6. Put bug netting over the top, and secure with twine tied around the top.
  7. Put rain barrel on a stand–the higher the better. Make sure its positioned where you can easily direct the downspout from your gutter into it.
  8. Cut out a slit in the bug netting for the water to go into, easily, and redirect your downspout to that spot.

That’s it! You can repeat the process for multiple barrels, putting the overflow valve into the next barrel.

How to Build Row Covers (and Protect your Cruciferous Vegetables!)

Whether you’re trying to protect your vegetables from pests or extend your growing season, knowing how to build a floating row cover is a useful skill to have. While row cover kits are convenient, they can be tricky to find in-store, are often expensive, and don’t allow for a lot of flexibility in size.

You can easily create your own hoop house of any size with just a few simple supplies. I’ll show you how!

A 40 foot long row cover in our acreage garden near Saskatoon, SK, Canada in zone 3.

What is a Row Cover Made Of?

For our row covers we use frost cloth (which has a tight enough weave that will keep out bugs), rolls of plastic pipe found in the plumbing section, and either binder clips (for our backyard garden) or landscape staples (for the acreage garden). The system is fairly inexpensive and everything can be used over and over again from year to year.

Frost or bug cloth can usually be found at your local garden centre or ordered online. Order as wide of a size as makes sense for your hoops.

Our row cover tunnels at the acreage are all from one piece of garden fabric, which makes more sense, because there are less possible points of entry for bugs to get in. The ones at our house are made from two panels of garden fabric that overlap and are connected by binder clips. It’s a bit more cumbersome, but is easier to manage for watering or just taking a peek to see how the plants are doing.

Related: See how I modify the row cover for use in my raised beds here.

For the hoop house structure, we choose to use plastic pipe because it’s easy to find, is flexible, and does not require any special tools to shape it or cut it to size.

Most professional gardeners use metal pipes that they bend to size with a special tool. Both systems work, use the one you feel most comfortable with.

Brussel sprout grown under a row cover.

How do you Cover Vegetables?

When cutting the pipes to size, we have found that it’s best to cut them at an angle, so they push into the soil easier.

Once you’ve cut the pipes the same size, place them into the ground. We space ours no more than 4 feet apart, and often closer in our backyard.

Twist the fabric at one end of the hoops and secure with landscape staples. Unroll the fabric the length of the garden hoops, plus extra at the end to secure the other side. If you have two people doing the job, it’s easiest to have one person slowly unroll the bug fabric, and the other secure with landscape staples or binder clips at each side.

What Vegetables Need to Be Covered?

Technically, you can cover whatever vegetable you need to protect from frost or bugs. We cover all of our cruciferous vegetables: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, kohlrabi, kale, brussel sprouts, and the like.

Red cabbage grown underneath row covers.

We also have very aggressive birds at our house in the city, so we cover the vegetables they covet–lettuce, Swiss Chard, beets, and oddly enough, zinnias.

If you’re covering vegetables because of birds, you can use bird netting instead of bug or frost fabric.

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Can Row Covers Protect Vegetables From Wind?

In short, yes. But there’s a few things you should know. For a small-scale garden, I actually like to use row covers as a wind and sun protector to help with the hardening off process. The work well and as long as they are secured with binder clips and bricks they generally stay put.

Side note: Hardening off plants is hard, and I’ve found that using a floating row cover for a week after planting in the garden really helps reduce plant shock and the amount of plants that die.

However, in our acreage garden (pictured below), the wind will rip the landscape staples out of the ground, and the row cover ends up on one side of the hoops. Thankfully it has never come out altogether, but it is annoying to constantly have to put it back after we’ve had an excessively windy day. In this case, the binder clips might be more secure, but they are more expensive. When your row is 40 feet long, the costs quickly add up.

What About Watering? Can Rain Get Through?

Rain can get through the garden fabric, so you don’t need to constantly remove it. That said, not as much rain gets through the row covers as if there was no cover. I open them up for watering between rains, or if I want to take advantage of the water from a lighter rain.

Just don’t forget to close them back up again once the rain is over. Otherwise the bugs can get at your vegetables, totally defeating the point of using a row cover.

Any more questions? Anything you’d add? Let me know in the comments!

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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