What did you do in the garden today?

[NewBoots]

I love dehydrated tomatoes, gave myself a stomach ache one day lol.

I can believe it, it's just do hard to remember what a concentrated food they are. Then again, I do need to test everything that comes out of the dehydrator to be sure it's done enough.

We don't have huckleberries here, so I'm really curious about those. It looks as though they can be related to blueberries, but there is another kind of huckleberry related to tomatoes. Which kind do you have? Also, once your tomatoes are dried, do you put them in oil, or do you get them dry enough that you don't need to?

They're a lot like smaller blueberries and they were evven smaller this year due to the lack of rain. We pay $10 a pound for them so they're pretty precious. And the dried tomatoes that are bone dry get put in jars with one of those "do not eat this" desiccant packs and they would keep probably for a year but they never last that long. The ones that are slightly bendy still get put in olive oil and kept in the fridge. Not sure how long they'd last since they get used faster in cooking.

I'm going to the funeral parlor tomorrow to see what we are actually allowed to do for a service.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Hospice used to offer after care for families, don't be shy about asking for it.

I think I'll wait until morning to assess any damage. Nothing looks too bad, from what I can see so far.

We heard it was pretty exciting up there, I hope your damage isn't too bad. We have lots of smoke here today, the sky is an ugly yellow.

Yesterday my daughter was delighted in finally getting to pet a chicken and then she fed one of the chipmunks a cherry tomato.

OMG that must have been so cute! I didn't know chipmunks ate tomatoes. I know our rabbits and chickens love them.

I wish you could share some of your rain over here!

I was thinking the same thing but nothing forecast for us through September.

Snowing 2 hours west of me, and only 47 degrees here with a windchill of 38.

That is just unreal, but as @Sueby said, it is 2020.

Finally got a proper hydrant put in the veg garden, although it's still not hooked up directly to the house mains, but rather on an underground extension I put in years ago.

Another thing on my list for the future.

Watering and critter care done for the day, picked tomatoes and a zucchini and gathered 3 good eggs and 2 thin shelled ones. Didn't stay out too long, the smoke is unhealthy and unpleasant plus today is tomato processing day!

I actually remembered to take the tomatoes out of the freezer last night so they were mostly thawed once I started working. The mill/grinder did the job once I figured out how to put it together. I ran the pulp through twice since a lot of liquid got into it, probably because not everything was completely thawed and I'm glad I did. I think I got every large container I owned dirty but now I have two big pots of sauce cooking down on the stove, a bag of pulp to put in the freezer and a clean kitchen (messy process). We'll see how much puree/sauce I end up with, I started with about 32 pounds of tomatoes. I think the next batch will be canned chunks.

 

[WthrLady]

For 30 pounds of tomatoes, all cooked down, I usually get 4 quarts of thick puree.

 

[Stepnout]

Wife and I have been bottling our garden harvest!
Pickled beets and green tomato Chow.

 

[igorsMistress]

@karenerwin I’m so sorry about your mom Even knowing it’s likely doesn’t help I’m sure. @littledog I’m sorry about the damage, hopefully it’s not too bad. @Kiwibird I slice the tomatoes very thin and eat them like chips. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle with some dried basil that I’ve pulverized into powder before drying, so good!

Good afternoon gardeners. I haven’t been outside much. The wind is blowing although the temp is ok, still having breathing treatments today though. We went grocery shopping and I picked up two society garlic plants to put in the xeriscape area. They smell like garlic but have pretty little purple flowers. Sorry it’s sideways but can’t figure out how to rotate it on my phone.

Speaking of fall chicks, I have 5 outside and 9 Turken eggs left in my incubator that are due next week. Haha, I’m breaking in a new phone and autocorrect changed it to turkey. Anyway, fall chicks make it easier to sell off the extras as started pullets which is nice. Our temps are supposed to stay below 110 so I’m hoping I can get outside to finish the wood chips before the week is out. I have welded wire on the way to do the walls of the garden so we’ll be working on that again soon. Still debating about a cover in case I need to add shade, but I’m going to put in a good layer of dirt before the walls go up. I think I’ve given up on the remaining hibiscus. I don’t want to but it looks bad and I doubt it’s going to make it. We’ll see, I made sure to water it yesterday along with the rest of the stuff, maybe cooler temps will help it along. Time to go prep dinner, we’re having leftover squash fritters, I made them with yellow squash last night, with tri tip and probably asparagus. Have a good night all.

 

[NewBoots]

For 30 pounds of tomatoes, all cooked down, I usually get 4 quarts of thick puree.

I chickened out and made sauce and I have 6 quarts from about 32 pounds plus maybe another half pound I fresh picked. It's processing now, the quarts are nearly done and the pints have about a half hour left. I'm so excited!

Edited to add, it looks like dusk outside at 5 pm due to the heavy smoke. Kinda scary even though I know the fires are no where near us.

 

[WthrLady]

That's not chickening out! Brilliant!

My next batch will be finished sauce with beef.

Rained all day here which, gladly, knocked the smoke out of our air.

 

[Stepnout]

With the weather where I live I have a very hard time to ripen tomatoes. We always use our tomatoes as green tomato Chow. We do have some that ripen but We could never depend on ripening enough to make sauce etc.

 

[WthrLady]

We had the trouble in North Dakota. I switched to short season Russian tomatoes.

 

[igorsMistress]

I chickened out and made sauce and I have 6 quarts from about 32 pounds plus maybe another half pound I fresh picked. It's processing now, the quarts are nearly done and the pints have about a half hour left. I'm so excited!

Edited to add, it looks like dusk outside at 5 pm due to the heavy smoke. Kinda scary even though I know the fires are no where near us.

I’m in Phoenix and we have lots of smoke from the fires in CA right now. It’s awful.

 

[WthrLady]

With the weather where I live I have a very hard time to ripen tomatoes. We always use our tomatoes as green tomato Chow. We do have some that ripen but We could never depend on ripening enough to make sauce etc.

Also try 4th of July variety.
If you can find it. LOL.