How do I save my veggies?

[Jish]

This post is from the good eatin board, but I was thinking that this may be a good place for answers, so I copied it and put it here too. I'm hoping you can help. Here it is...

I may be more organic than I think I am. We do garden in the summer, but the season in Iowa is short so we only have a couple of months at the most of fresh veggies. We also have two strawberry patches. One bears fruit for a month or so in May and June, it is our established patch, and the berries are great. Last year we started another patch that will bear fruit all season. I'm hoping that one takes off this year. We had an herb garden with things such as sage, oregano, basil, and a couple others, but it got out of control and it was tough to tell what was what anymore so we tore it out last fall and are going to start over this year.

I don't do any canning, I just don't have the space to do it, or to store much, but I would like information on how to freeze some of our produce, esp the strawberries, peppers, cucumbers. Can I freeze all these things, and if so, what do I have to do to them to be sure they freeze well. I have no idea how to blanche anything, so I'm pretty much a garden virgin here when it comes to long term storage of our bounty.:

Any advice? I think I'll copy this and post it on the gardening board too.

[serenetabbie]

Ummm... well, the cucumbers will turn to mush if you freeze them, like lettuce does. Strawberries and other berries I wash and freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then put them in a ziploc. It sound like a lot of work, but it is so nice to have free berries & not a big clump. Peppers, beans, peas , carrots, and spinach are things we freeze too and we blanch them first (boil breifly, then plunge in cold water, drain well). Beans I also do the cookie sheet thing. All the herbs but cilantro I dry. Cillantro needs to be frozen, no blanching needed. I freeze it in about teaspoon heaps. I can my tomatoes as they are high in acid and only need a water bath. the USDA has lots of helpful info on food preservation. Good luck!!!
~Laura