Lawn and Garden 2022

[bill_g]

20 cups of toms pressure cooked with celery, carrots, and onions, hit with the immersion blender, and run through the fine seive to remove seeds. It looks and tastes like Campbells tomato soup. It will chill overnight. Tomorrow we add herbs, slow cook down about a third, jar it hot, pressure cook them, and let them rest. Should make 7-8 quarts of basic marinara.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Mm-mm good! Mmm good.
bill_g makes his marinara
Mm-mm good.

[bill_g]

[BeastofBourbon]

Bill, I notice that some of your Romas look more like beefsteaks. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one with oddly forming tomatoes. When I noticed that some of my roma-type Jersey Giants looked more like baseballs, I thought I somehow managed to plant the wrong seeds. Maybe it was our exceptionally wet spring this year? In my garden the water table was so high that some of the plants drowned.

[Phoenix520]

I’m jealous. It was so hot and dry here this year that one day without watering was a death sentence. I planted my tomatoes super early, got a mediocre yield and everything just gave up in July and died.

[bill_g]

Bill, I notice that some of your Romas look more like beefsteaks. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one with oddly forming tomatoes. When I noticed that some of my roma-type Jersey Giants looked more like baseballs, I thought I somehow managed to plant the wrong seeds. Maybe it was our exceptionally wet spring this year? In my garden the water table was so high that some of the plants drowned.

These are supposedly San Marzanos which have a distinctive hourglass shape. Some do, but the majority resemble regular bulbous romas, and many are as big as beefsteaks. Cutting them up revealed they are all a roma var. I suspect the seed came from plants that cross pollinated with other vars.

The large ones seemed to be double and triple toms. They had multiple cores to a single stem when cut up. In the photo I placed a clearly double fruit on top. The left side looks like a romo, and the right looks like a beefsteak with a single stem in the middle.

[bill_g]

I’m jealous. It was so hot and dry here this year that one day without watering was a death sentence. I planted my tomatoes super early, got a mediocre yield and everything just gave up in July and died.

A few people have reported that. You are not alone.

[humblescribe]

First go around for raisins this year. Gonna lay down two more trays.

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Six and one-half pounds! Two more are out there, and I hope the heat didn't fry them. I did erect a tent to eliminate sunburn.

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[Tiredretiredlawyer]

SIX AND A HALF POUNDS!!!!????
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

[Phoenix520]

Good thing you got a pic.

This is one of those dilemmas - it’s almost too unbelievable to eat. Do I eat it or have it stuffed and mounted.

[bill_g]

I have never met anyone that made their own raisins. That is some Olde Worlde knowledge. I hope they come out perfect humblescribe. (fingers crossed)

Well, I made my first dollar off the garden produce. Just a few thousand more, and I can apply for EFU (exclusive farm unit) property tax status.

A neighbor's 8yo daughter asked if I would buy her handpainted rock for $2. It was a fine bit of artwork, and a worthwhile purchase. So, I countered with an offer of $1 and a fresh tomatoe off the vine. She countered with $1 and a BIG tomatoe for her, and one for her sister. Deal. The exchange occurred and now I am the proud owner of a granite rock with pink flower thingies all over it. She returned home feeling victorious.

Her older brother came back asking if he could buy a tomatoe as well. He brought along his friend and two of his friends brothers and sisters. And his sister. And his youngest sister. And their cat Milo who already considers our yard his territory anyways. Milo likes to nap in the cucumbers, and watch the birds flitter about. He often oversees my picking of the green beans checking each one as it drops into my basket. So, his 12yo boy wants to bargain for tomatoes which Milo has never shown any interest in.

Okay. Between all these kids they were able to muster a whole dollar which I accepted, and then helped them pick the best tomatoe for each child. And one for mom and dad too. I think I lost money on the price per pound. I'll have to do the math, and work up a P&L report later. Maybe do a spreadsheet. When I have time. Perhaps I teach one of the kids, or maybe Milo.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

What a lovely story, bill!

[Azastan]

Yesterday and the day before we've had Chinook winds. Because of Kid Rock (who STILL insists upon invading my body and hasn't left yet) and my bad back, all my dahlias are still in pots. So all of my dahlias got blown over by the wind, and because Chinook winds are hot, the dahlias were a bit wilted.

Today we have cloud cover, no winds. Pots are back to being upright, plumped out after I watered them all last night, and it's a bit less smoky. We have several fires burning all around us (not any close by), so it's been unpleasant breathing the last couple of days.

[RTH10260]

why am I always reading this thread title as "Law 'n Order"

[raison de arizona]

why am I always reading this threa title as "Law 'n Order"

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[humblescribe]

Thanks for the kind words.

Wife and self already gobbled down that giant cantaloupe. Of course, we gave a few small chunks to the K9 corps for their unwavering service in keeping the raised beds free from cats and their buried treasures.

All raisins produced in these United States are grown within about a 40-mile radius of our home. We're smack-dab in the middle. It is hot enough with very low humidity in late August and September.

I tell youse, compost is the trick. Or silt. We lived on a creek in Shasta County about 40 years ago. The riparian area was nothing but silt. Everything grown in that silt was extra large and extra good. Today it is raised beds. About 75% compost augmented with topsoil seems to be the ticket.

[bill_g]

Agreed on the compost idea, though I must point out not all commercial compost is created equal because you don't know what the source materials are. But, if you make your own, you can create some beautiful black earth.

[MsDaisy]

Okay, what the hell is doing this? We do have carpenter bees but they drill holes and tunnels, they don't eat chunks of wood.

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As the crow flies we are in a very rural area and have had a little bit of everything come through here now and again, but we've never seen anything like this.

[Azastan]

Have you seen any woodpeckers lately?

That top hole on the left looks like possibly Pileated Woodpecker work (although they like to make oblong holes). Are there wood chips at the base of the post?

[MsDaisy]

Have you seen any woodpeckers lately?

That top hole on the left looks like possibly Pileated Woodpecker work (although they like to make oblong holes). Are there wood chips at the base of the post?

We do have Pileated Woodpeckers and we have lots of that kind of fencing along the horse field (not that we have horses but there use to be horses here) and down the long driveway, most of it full of carpenter bees and bee larva. We have the same fencing around the pool and that's where I saw these big holes! I did go out and look for wood chips on the ground but my Mr. weed whacked out there the other day. There is no getting rid of those fucking carpenter bees, period. Nothing I can do about Woodpeckers either, not out here in rural Virginia, all you can do is buy new fence rails.

[Azastan]

Well...I'd say you've got woodpeckers hammering out those tasty carpenter bee larva. Pileateds make big holes, although they may not be the only woodpecker culprits. New fence rails are in your future, apparently.

[sugar magnolia]

Have you seen any woodpeckers lately?

That top hole on the left looks like possibly Pileated Woodpecker work (although they like to make oblong holes). Are there wood chips at the base of the post?

Do woodpeckers peck that low? We have a ton of them around here but never so close to ground level.

[Azastan]

Have you seen any woodpeckers lately?

That top hole on the left looks like possibly Pileated Woodpecker work (although they like to make oblong holes). Are there wood chips at the base of the post?

Do woodpeckers peck that low? We have a ton of them around here but never so close to ground level.

I've seen Pileateds on the ground, working on tree stumps. They'll work on stumps upside down, too.

[MsDaisy]

Well...I'd say you've got woodpeckers hammering out those tasty carpenter bee larva. Pileateds make big holes, although they may not be the only woodpecker culprits. New fence rails are "constantly" in your future, apparently.

FIFY But

[pipistrelle]

Have you seen any woodpeckers lately?

That top hole on the left looks like possibly Pileated Woodpecker work (although they like to make oblong holes). Are there wood chips at the base of the post?

Do woodpeckers peck that low? We have a ton of them around here but never so close to ground level.

I've seen Pileateds on the ground, working on tree stumps. They'll work on stumps upside down, too.

I've been eyeball to eyeball with one, give or take a couple of vertical inches.