The Old Folks Home

[Beer can]

Wow those are Naked necks? pretty substantial I must say. OK Garlic Herb Marinade..... inquiring minds want to know.

deb

I must confess...not homemade garlic and herb....

I work for a little ole dairy plant, Breakstone's, Knudsen's over on your side, best darn cottage cheese and sour cream on the planet!
We have food orders, everything the main company that owns us (Kraft/Heinz) soo cheap, you don't want to know what the markup is on everything.... I get good seasonings garlic and herb salad and zesty italian dressing dry packets for a few $ a case of 24, cost over a dollar a packet in the store..... makes awesome marinade for steak and chicken!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Like Alice peering down the rabbit hole?

I don't think she peered first... sounds like a full on header to me!

 

[pennyJo1960]

@Wickedchicken6
Here you are again welcome again love ol grey mare's avatar though
need to work on that get it the right way

 

[microchick]

Welcome to everybody who just joined in. I've been busy finishing up work on the new coop. Yesterday we finished up tin siding. People can be so nice. Friends of ours learned we were remodeling an old shed into a new chicken coop and gave us a stack of used corrugated tin and a huge roll of chain link fence. All we had to supply was the nails and the labor! Of course the cost came in when I ripped my forearm open on the rough edged siding and had to go to the ER to get stitched up.

Beer Can your culinary talent with the grill makes my mouth water with the exception of the Bear Loin. I don't think that I could handle that. Too much like eating dog for me. Do the grilled tomatoes have the same flavor as fried green tomatoes? I've never tried them grilled.

I only planted 3 plants this year but they gave me enough to make pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce for the freezer. We just don't eat enough canned tomatoes to make it worth my effort to can them. In fact I used tomatoes canned from 14 to make more sauce this year.

The thought of blanching, skinning and preparing all those tomatoes makes me tired just thinking about it.

 

[Peep_Show]

Yeah! lots of paste tomatoes! Dang things can be so small

The San Marzano ones (long and large) and Heinz 57 (round and big) are great to work with. But the Roma tomatoes... Sigh. The size is not consistent plant to plant. Even with staking they just sprawl all over the place and harvesting is like a jungle expedition. But they are prolific and volume counts when making sauce. All those tomatoes in the picture yielded 6 pints of sauce and a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner for two.

Tomato season is far from over.

 

[getaclue]

microchick, sorry to hear about you needing stitches. I hope it heals up quickly for you, and doesn't leave too bad of a scar.

 

[FridayYet]

The San Marzano ones (long and large) and Heinz 57 (round and big) are great to work with.  But the Roma tomatoes...  Sigh.  The size is not consistent plant to plant.   Even with staking they just sprawl all over the place and harvesting is like a jungle expedition.   But they are prolific and volume counts when making sauce.   All those tomatoes in the picture yielded 6 pints of sauce and a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner for two.   

Tomato season is far from over.

Let me know if you'll have any for sale! (LOL).

Hearing about everyone's harvest makes me sad the garden was fallow this year, but I did get a good start on next year by layering cardboard, peat, grass clippings, alfalfa, and then compost. Ready for the next few layers and then I'll be ready to plant in the spring.

 

[chickadoodles]

Welcome Wicked

I got a bunch of tomatoes and veggies till the bugs and cabbage worms showed up. I tried fighting them off but finally gave up and let them have the garden.
I did not want to put chemicals on the veggies.

 

[ronott1]

Welcome Wicked

I got a bunch of tomatoes and veggies till the bugs and cabbage worms showed up. I tried fighting them off but finally gave up and let them have the garden.
I did not want to put chemicals on the veggies.

You can do a lot of natural things to control them. You can start this fall and then follow the guide for spring and summer control. If you do the fall and spring things, especially the trichogramma wasps, you likely will not have to do the summer things.

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CABBAGE WORMS

Organic solutions for effective cabbage worm control in home gardens.

Description

Now common throughout the United States, the imported cabbage worm (Pieris rapae) does great damage to brassica and other cabbage-family crops in fields and gardens where it gains a foothold. Although the larvae of this garden pest moves sluggishly, it is extremely destructive, especially later in the growing season when populations can build significantly.
The imported cabbageworm (1-1/4 inch long) is velvety green in color and has many short fine hairs and faint yellow strips down its side and back. It’s five sets of prolegs are easily visible. Adults are white or pale yellow butterflies (1-2 inch wingspan) with three or four black spots on their wings. They are frequently noticed fluttering about the garden from early spring to late fall.
Life Cycle

Adult females emerge in early spring after over wintering as green pupae. They lay up to 200 tiny yellow eggs on host plants, usually on the undersides of leaves. These hatch in 7 or more days (depending on temperature) into young larvae caterpillars. The larvae feed heavily for 15 or more days, then pupate on lower leaf surfaces or nearby garden objects. During late spring and summer, the worm pupates for 10 days before a new generation of butterflies emerges. There are 3 to 5 overlapping generations each year, as many as 8 in warmer areas.
Damage

In the larval stage, cabbage worms will feed on the surface layer of leaves, leaving behind a a translucent, tissue-like scars. As they grow, they chew large, irregular holes usually beginning on the outside leaves of cabbage and other cole and mustard crops (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, turnip, radish). As the worm feeds, it commonly bores into the center of cabbage heads contaminating them with its fecal pellets. The dark-green pellets can also be found in the crook of leaves near the stem.
Cabbageworm Control

The imported cabbage worm is one of many worms that attack garden plants. Luckily, control tactics aimed at a particular worm, be they loopers, army worms, cut worms or diamond back moths, are usually effective against all.
Early Season

• This insect has many natural enemies, including predatory beetles, spiders, yellow jackets, green lacewing and parasitic wasps. Birds also favor cabbage worms. Make sure your garden welcomes these creatures. And don’t use chemical sprays that might harm or destroy these natural predators.
• Protect plants with floating row covers to prevent adults from laying eggs.
• Use pheromone traps to determine the main flight period for moths.
• Release trichogramma wasps to destroy eggs.
• Predator wasps of various sorts, most indigenous to your garden, will seek-out the eggs of all types of worms. Help protect them by using something other than indiscriminate chemical pesticides.
• Herbalists report that moths are discouraged from laying eggs on cabbage sprayed with tansy oil or a strongly brewed tansy tea (because of the volatile oils it contains, tansy teas can be dangerous to humans, especially when consumed in quantity, and should be avoided; instead use it in your garden). Planting tansy near your cabbage crops can also discourage them. In an example of the two-way street nature of companion planting, tansy planted near cabbage does surprisingly well.
• As soon as damage is noticed (large irregular holes in leaves, fecal pellets on plants and ground), begin handpicking caterpillars and destroying them.

Late Season

• Chickens can be thorough pickers of cabbage worms. Ducks, too. Of course, they might also eat things you don’t want them to, especially early in the season when plants are still small. Wait until your plants are peckable size and you’re sure you have a pest problem before unleashing the clucks and the quacks.
• Botanical insecticides — derived from plants which have insecticidal properties — have fewer harmful side effects and break down more quickly in the environment than synthetic chemicals. However, they are still toxic and should only be used after other least-toxic options have been tried.
• Once worms are apparent, apply Garden Dust (Bt-kurstaki) to leaves where they’re seen. This naturally occurring soil bacteria, listed for organic use by the Organic Materials Review Institute, will take out the worms as they feed.
• Spinosad, the active ingredient in Monterey Garden Insect Spray is made from fermentation. It doesn’t persist in the environment — crops are ready for harvest a day after application, and is a good substitute for Bt-kurstaki dusts.

Fall Prevention

• To prevent overwintering pupae from emerging as adults in early spring, till under all garden debris to which they might attach. In places with milder winters, it may be necessary to remove the debris all together. Pay special attention to plants of the mustard family. They’re a favorite place for cabbage worm pupae to spend the winter.
• Worms will also retreat to garden margins and borders. Keep them clean and short to prevent overwintering there.

Recommended Products​

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to everybody who just joined in. I've been busy finishing up work on the new coop. Yesterday we finished up tin siding. People can be so nice. Friends of ours learned we were remodeling an old shed into a new chicken coop and gave us a stack of used corrugated tin and a huge roll of chain link fence. All we had to supply was the nails and the labor! Of course the cost came in when I ripped my forearm open on the rough edged siding and had to go to the ER to get stitched up.

Yikes - hope you heal quickly, though my husband and FIL have a saying that you haven't really worked for the day unless/until you bleed so I suppose that means you worked REALLY hard.

The San Marzano ones (long and large) and Heinz 57 (round and big) are great to work with. But the Roma tomatoes... Sigh. The size is not consistent plant to plant. Even with staking they just sprawl all over the place and harvesting is like a jungle expedition. But they are prolific and volume counts when making sauce. All those tomatoes in the picture yielded 6 pints of sauce and a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner for two.

Tomato season is far from over.

That's what I need - is the idiots guide to what all the different tomatoes are good for so I know what I need to plant -- thank you for this post!

Let me know if you'll have any for sale! (LOL).

Hearing about everyone's harvest makes me sad the garden was fallow this year, but I did get a good start on next year by layering cardboard, peat, grass clippings, alfalfa, and then compost. Ready for the next few layers and then I'll be ready to plant in the spring.

Sounds like you are well on your way to a bumper crop next year!!!