What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

picked cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants and bell peppers.

 

[OnlySympathy]

We have been on a boil water advisory for the past 2 days. My poor iron deficient body just wants to chew some ice. And I can’t even wash any of my tomatoes to freeze. My neighbor wanted some tomatoes but I have to wait until I can wash them because a few of them aren’t particularly clean

 

[jerryse]

Do you share your cukes with the hens? Mine like the regular ones for an afternoon treat and gobble them all up but they're not so much fans of the small pickling ones. They'll eat the seeds and a little bit of the guts but I suppose the rinds are just too tough? bitter? unappetizing? for the Prima Donnas.

What are you doing for your tomatoes?

Adding calcium for the tomatoes. No hens to share with. Had to give up the hens due to age. It got to be too much. Started making cucumber salad.

 

[Sally PB]

Have you ever used cilantro in any of your salsa recipes or attempts?

Hubby put some in one of his batches, years ago. He said he couldn't taste it after it was canned. Maybe the heat killed the flavor off?

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Harvested .6 oz of onion trimmings this morning, bringing me up to 1.4 oz total and I had to put them in a bigger container to hold them all.

 

[WilderSkye]

SOS need idea on effective foliar spray for elm beetles. We have put down a systemic twice this year but elms across our alley are infested and one of ours is being eaten up.

Lowe’s is out of the foliar spray but has the soil drench of the stuff we use (we always use the drench). Is it possible to use it as a foliar spray?

 

[Minanora]

For sure. Just make sure you've got a seedless grape variety. Himrod has been great for us in a not particularly grape-friendly location (flat land given to early spring frosts) at latitude 46 N.

The raisins that I prepare are dark and quite hard because I dry them super thoroughly to avoid spoilage. I guess in principle it should be possible to get a brighter color (lemon juice / ascorbic acid bath) and a softer texture (shorter drying time, however I consider it risky) but the way I do it (3 days at 65 C, shuffle the plates every so often) is simple enough and everybody understands there's always the next thing demanding your attention.

View attachment 4197595

I sun dry raisins every year. I get them very dry but after I put them up they soften too the same consistency as the red box brand ones that I can't recall the name of.

I need to start a bunch this weekend.

Alpaca won't go near garlic and their urine and poo pellets are sweet, and draw flies like mad. I just finished drowning the stalls in pyrethrin. When I get to the market this week I'll grab some Best choice baby talc they can roll in. Flies don't like that either and the alpacas sure do.
I dosed the run and coop in it too. The coop is a PDZ floor with DE mixed in and is 3 inches deep. Flies don't care. The run, well that's hardwood dust and pdz 6 inches deep. The problem is, it's usually dry, but the storm took the roof, so wet feed crumbs and poo, flies LOVE THAT. Best I can do is spray and get the roof back on.

Mowed this morning. Phone fell out of my pocket and down through the blades under the seat. Gorilla case flew apart, phone, not a scratch. Good grief.

Have tomatoes to squish and freeze.

You could try a topical application of bentonite clay and/or kaolin clay as well. I use a mixture of this like a slurry to coat my arms and legs when we pick olives. I look ridiculous but I don't get eaten by no-see-ums, mosquitos or biting flies.

I still have flies in the coop with pdz, but at least it doesn't stink to high heaven and the fly population is much lower than if I don't use it.

I'm very impressed with your phone surviving the mower. I have dropped my headphone case off of the tractor plenty of times. But I usually notice it before I run it over. Usually. Luckily it seems to happen when I'm backing up so only the front tires have gotten it instead of the ballasted monsters on the rear. Those are almost as tall as me and are over 1200#.

 

[Minanora]

Thanks again. That was the thought that got me thinking about salsa…..the leftover green tomatoes going to waste.

You can also make green tomato relish. I do a sweet relish with it and put it on crackers with smoked salmon and cream cheese.

 

[Chianneak]

I have been growing elephant ears for about four years now and this is my proudest to date!! More keep coming bigger and bigger.

 

[Minanora]

Hubby put some in one of his batches, years ago. He said he couldn't taste it after it was canned. Maybe the heat killed the flavor off?

you likely need more cilantro. Cilantro is a key ingredient in tomatillo based chili Verde. I water bath can my Verde base, so I don't lose flavor. Pressure canned salsa is a thing that I'm still trying to make the perfect recipe for. A lot of flavor is lost when I pressure can salsas. So I've stuck to high acid salsa and water bath canned.