Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
I am doing a Menards run tomorrow. Are you getting any Sabelkas this year? I did not get my seeds planted in time so none here although I will have more tomatoes than I can use. I still have 6 quarts of V8 from last year. And I have a quart ziploc of last years dehydrated tomatoes in the fridge. Some nice broccoli heads forming I have 6 plants.
You do beautiful work, Q!
IIRC, Rutgers tomatoes were developed with the thick skin to resist cracking / splitting. I concur that their taste is just “so-so”.
I can’t figure out these Golden Jubilees from Menards. Their fruit size is no larger than my right-beside-them Cherry Tomato plants’ (which fruits are actually running slightly larger than expected.) Taste, etc., of the Golden Jubilees is good, but the biggest was maybe 1-1/4” diameter. Last year’s gave me nice 3” fruits regularly. These are redder than last year’s GJ’s, but not “red”.
HA! I post the above, and now we are bracketed by a couple t-storms. They are moving VERY slowly: If the bigger one ever gets here, or expands to here, we might get quite a soaking.
I think I’ll charge back out and try to take advantage of the lower temps, provided the rain holds off.
Too late!!!
I have baffles on my bird feeder poles, and that keeps the raccoons and squirrels at bay around here. Anything that falls on the ground is fair game. Like you, my problem is keeping on top of how fast those feeders empty. It’s fun to watch the variety of birds that come through, though.
We only have Ruby-throated hummingbirds, too. I know that they build nests around here, because we eventually see the babies come to the feeders, but I can never find their nests. They are so small, roughly the size of a golf ball.
I just got finished talking with a contractor about helping us with our meditation garden. I told him how tied I am to the raccoon hole part of the hickory tree that we just had to come down. I told him I was a peaceful retreat with a water feature. He came up with idea of turning the massive raccoon log into a water feature that we can see from the house. It sounds really cool and very unique.
This time around I want to put flagstone over there. He also seemed to like the way we view this property. Even though we live in a neighborhood, the back side is all woodsy and very natural. We share the space with the wildlife here. So we try to make it mesh for both humans and wildlife, especially birds.
Yeah I also didn’t realize they were thee commercial variety back in the day for sauce/soup companies. The thick skins don’t matter for a paste tomato and probably helped with shipping and keeping qualities.
All I know is I consider Menard’s the same way I think of Walmart and the Dollar Store. Not great quality. Were they brand name seeds or something only found at Menard’s?
Speaking of wildlife .... Bunbun has been absent for quite a while now. I’ve been actively looking the last week or so, no bunny.
Today, carrying a landscape timber around the corner of the shop, a rabbit jumped up from under the Leyland Cypress trees & took off at warp speed across the field, dodging & weaving as if being chased by prey. It finally stopped near the fence, under the tree shadows. That is not Bunbun who would hop off a little way if I got too close, then stop & resume eating - almost semi-tame. “Dodger” is a new rabbit - maybe the juvenile I caught in the groundhog trap earlier this year.
Bunbun looked ‘old’ to me so no telling what happened - just died, fox, coyote, hawk, etc. Bunnies live a precarious life. If Bunbun is really gone, I’m glad there’s a new bunny in town!
*’chased by prey’ s/be ‘chased by a predator’.
The Golden Jubilee plants fruiting now (and for the last 2 weeks) were originally in 4” “Bonnies” pots, then transplanted into the better drained side of the garden. I also have a few Golden Jubilee plants growing from seed I collected from last year’s plants, but they are not yet fruiting yet (and in this heat, may not flower well...)
A lot of things can cause small fruits, but the Cherry tomatoes seem unaffected. I guess I’ll see what happens when the Better Boys and the Mortgage Lifters try to fruit... The BB’s got a late start (in soil) where some other plants drowned early on, and, the ML’s are slow to fruit anyway - I don’t expect the ML’s to flower until the end of this month.
Another surprise is an Opo coming up in a starter pot, one of several I’d set aside as failed, 2 months ago. It’s awfully late to expect it to develop fast enough to fruit B4 frost, but, I guess I’ll give it a shot.
I’d agree about Menards being a sort of different flavor of Wal-Mart, but, I’d still have to put both ahead of Dollar Stores. Rural King, OTOH, is a weird mix of cheapo stuff and pricey stuff - hard to categorize... ;-)
Fascinating video. It’s about garlic processing and history.
How The US’ Biggest Garlic Producer Survived The Fall Of American Garlic | Big Business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9YfnLGoJL8
I LOVE garlic - thanks for posting, very informative.
I LOVE garlic - thanks for posting, very informative.
The Golden Jubilee plants fruiting now (and for the last 2 weeks) were originally in 4” “Bonnies” pots, then transplanted into the better drained side of the garden. I also have a few Golden Jubilee plants growing from seed I collected from last year’s plants, but they are not yet fruiting yet (and in this heat, may not flower well...)
A lot of things can cause small fruits, but the Cherry tomatoes seem unaffected. I guess I’ll see what happens when the Better Boys and the Mortgage Lifters try to fruit... The BB’s got a late start (in soil) where some other plants drowned early on, and, the ML’s are slow to fruit anyway - I don’t expect the ML’s to flower until the end of this month.
Another surprise is an Opo coming up in a starter pot, one of several I’d set aside as failed, 2 months ago. It’s awfully late to expect it to develop fast enough to fruit B4 frost, but, I guess I’ll give it a shot.
I’d agree about Menards being a sort of different flavor of Wal-Mart, but, I’d still have to put both ahead of Dollar Stores. Rural King, OTOH, is a weird mix of cheapo stuff and pricey stuff - hard to categorize... ;-)
I have ONE Sabelka and it is doing so-so with all the rain and lack of sunshine. The mice/chippies chewed off my other FIVE and it was too late to re-start them. :(
I have a TON of Sabelka seed saved from last year, though! When this tide turns next season, I’ll have a lot more tomatoes to do something with. I’ll be growing a lot of Sabelka and also the Sabres from the seed you discovered for us last winter. :)
This Lack-O-Tomatoes is making me CrAzy! I’m going to have to take up Crochet or something, LOL!
Yeah - I know. I gotta get started on that Baby Blanket for the Fair!
Sounds lovely!
My ‘Whole Peanut Wreath’ is NOT going to be a ‘feature’ this summer...the squirrels and chippies figured it out within MINUTES and the thing was empty within two hours!
I’ll put it up again come winter. If I stop the supply of Free Foodstuffs to The Squirrel Family right now, maybe they’ll move on before then. Jerks!
Must be something about the weather this year. I have noticed all the cherry maters I’ve grown have been pretty resilient compared to full size varieties I’ve tried.
Rural King has some good prices on some major products judging by their website. I have one a couple of hours away but haven’t been in there yet.
Gawd it’s hot out there.
I see loads of male squash flowers plus a few new females but the plants all need water which I just came back from getting. Then I ought to get some patty pan squash soon.
Once the sun goes away, I’ll do the transfer to tunnel tank and then water for 45 minutes and take the truck tank out of the truck so it can be a second tunnel tank. Then drag the utility tank up by the house that needs cleaned into the back of the truck so I can drive it with cleaner sloshing around in it for a week. That will be the truck tank for the foreseeable future. I need to buy four more but there’s no rush. I also need to either find some pallets to stack up or better yet, make a stand the same height as truck bed floor so I can drag the truck tank out of the truck in between water runs. The tank is back there 24/7 right now.
Just another two months until it starts cooling off.
That’s what happens here, too! I *sort of* miss the birds in the summer, but they are still out there. If I provide it, it disappears quickly. I don’t mind them showing the babies where an easy food source is, but I don’t need a whole flock of everyone either. Right now, I have Tufted Titmice, Cardinals, Gray Catbirds, Chipping Sparrows, and Carolina Chickadees coming to the close feeders with their younguns. Oh, and lest I forget (I wish I could), House Sparrows, and House Finches, too.
It was pretty hot here today, so this afternoon, when hubby was almost finished with work, we went to our little town’s pool to cool off. After 4 pm, it’s only $5 to enter. Well, that was a winning idea! Great way to cool off! We need to make use of this more often. It’s only open for 2 more weeks. Once school starts (August 6 here), they can’t staff the lifeguards. Bummer. The heat remains until around Labor Day, and sometimes a bit after that.
I hadn’t read your post when I posted my #639. We found out a way to cool off! We’ve been here for a dozen years, and this summer is the first that we’ve been to the town pool complex. It has kiddie features, like splash pads, and a walking lazy river, besides a pool with a diving board. Sometimes it takes a 4 year old (grandson) to lead the way. (They visited over the Independence Day holiday.)
We thank God every day that He saw fit to help us find this place. We had been in a total rut. Moving here has rejuvenated us!
Small towns rock!
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