Now the bad news. I have HORNWORMS!!!!! In my entire life as a gardener, I have never had hornworms in my tomatoes! And, because of my work schedule, I have less than 5 minutes of daylight in the evenings in which to do most of my gardening, so there isn't a whole lot of time to go hunting for them. I did decapitate 2 of them so far, but there's evidence of a lot more to go.
Tomorrow's schedule involves hornworm hunting, laying plastic out on my land, and starting a batch of 2-Day Spaghetti Sauce, not necessarily in that order.
Since you mention Spaghetti sauce.......I find that a lot of my (picked) tomatoes are not “perfect” and are not perfectly free of any blemish. In fact many have little blemishes which of course grow in size the longer they sit out on the table. If put in the fridge the advance of the blemishing stops. I don’t have room in there for them all though.
My question is if the “yuck spots” can be cut out and the rest of the tomato be used for sauce that is not destined to be canned. Like in a Spaghetti sauce. I am positive that my Grandma never threw away all the tomatoes that had imperfections, yet the canning books all say to only use perfect tomatoes.
I used the only perfect tomatoes I had to make my unusually delicious Ketchup, because I do can that. Although this year I only had enough ripe PERFECT tomatoes to make a single pint (late start planting) it is very thick and used 15-16 tomatoes to make. One pint. That’s it.
My husband asked if I didn’t get mad or frustrated from all the work to produce such a small amount, but I don’t let it bother me. If I know going in that I will have so little (and I absolutely knew before I started), then I weigh the work against the reward, and I love this Ketchup!
Anyway, is it “safe” to use the tomatoes that have spots if the spots are completely cut away?
We had horn worms. Mr. Sg spotted the first one (I wouldn’t have known a horn worm if I tripped over one). Became obsessive-compulsive about destroying them—got six or seven on the first day, following the path-of-destruction technique, a couple more over the next week, then the problem was over. What kicked my butt this year was squash vine borers (I think).
I had another busy Saturday, but I managed to stop before I worked myself to a migraine this time. There are 2 slow-cookers with spaghetti sauce still cooking down. The tomatoes were waterier than usual and somebody keeps messing with the temperature settings, so it’s taking longer than usual. I’m also having to defend it a lot, that’s getting very annoying!
I did manage to get out to my land, and found that all the plastic sheeting that I’d gotten laid down so far had blown loose on at least 3 sides each. The only corner that didn’t blow loose was the one that had a big rock on it in addition to the landscape staples. So, I took the hint and went rock-picking. Fortunately the hayfield nearby had just been harvested, wand the rocks were all nicely exposed. I found enough to weigh down the 4 sheets that were out there, and even was able to lay down a 5th. More amazingly, I was able to carry those rocks! With my back and shoulder problems, that’s astonishing!
My squash vines were still going, but the stems on the intividual squash were turning brown and drying out, so I picked two and brought them home. The weather keeps swinging a little too close to freezing, and I won’t be able to run out and rescue them if there’s a hard freeze during the week. I also clipped a few chickpea stalks that were turning brown, so they can finish drying inside. I’d rather let them dry in the field, but I’m hedging my bets right now, just in case.
It’s raining right now, so I get to do indoor stuff. Studying, canning, and seed sorting. Not all at the same time.