Heh. I never thought of heating jars in the oven for sterilization. Interesting. Thanks. On tomatoes, I’m just old enough to remember the kind that left a burning sensation in our mouths. Most people don’t grow that kind any more.
I live in a place that’s somewhat like Mars these days (high altitude) and am trying some of the shortest season tomatoes (small but acceptable heirloom types) with covers during the first and last months of summer (hard freezes).
It’s not really for sterilization, although since the water is close to boiling, it probably does that. I did it just for the convenience of having the jars hot enough to not crack when I put the hot food in it. If I’m cold packing the stuff, I don’t do it.
You’d be surprised how many jars fit on those oven racks. You just need to be careful getting them out. I use a nice dry towel. It really speeds things up and saves on stove top space for not having boiling water to dip the jars into (which also tends to crack them very effectively).
I just got a seed order in and ordered the shortest growing season, cool weather tolerant seeds I could find. We’re in Central NY and the last date of frost is always a crap shoot. It’s been as early as late March and late as June 3.
And we have this annoying tendency to have weeks of mild weather and then just before Memorial Day, some light frosts. You wouldn’t believe the stack of old bedding I have in the barn that I use for protection once it’s no longer any good for the beds. Who needs to buy floating row covers?