Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Ping to Post 699! :)
Great post!
I did NOT work in my garden today! (Good night Diana!)
THANK YOU!!!
That is excellent.
Found three tomato hornworms overall so far this week and drowned them all. Destructive. *(&#@^$@s.
Still I’m getting enough to can some stewed tomatoes up for the year.
Still VERY dry. It’s going to cool off a bunch but the drought is holding everything back. I need to water regularly, which has been hard for this horrific month mr. mm and I have been enduring. (He’s had shingles, and I’s still struggling with my own health issues.
Still I’ll get the rest of the onions pulled, and start working on processing the garlic now that its dried out for 3 weeks.
The onion crop was a disappointment. The ones that continued to grow did much better. A more acceptable size.
The carrots are starting to come up. Lettuce is doing OK and Zucchini is producing some.
Hopefully, next year will be better.
And Brussel sprouts are doing OK.
It looks like this:
is a much more concentrated mix than this:
https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-13022-Thuricide-Caterpillar/dp/B004QJ33B4/ref=sr_1_3?sr=8-3
So the higher price for the Bonide product appears to be “worth it”.
The Hi-Yield product seems to be harder to find locally or from Amazon, per my web search (but in the process I discovered Rural King apparently has Super Phosphate back in stock - yay!)
I did try BT several years back, but was not impressed with the results. However, it may have washed off in rain(s). For better or worse, the Sevin seems to stay on the plants better. (No, I don’t spray Sevin on anything to be harvested soon, and, yes, all our garden produces gets well washed.)
MOST years I don’t need to use any control measures for hornworms other than me picking them off the plants. I’ve also never seen a hornworm in my present location with the parasites, but when I was a kid I saw them a lot. Interesting, as my Dad was not exactly shy about using pesticides. Me — I’m pretty selective / limited.
Dad also had some “professional” jet spray Wasp Spray for zinging wasp and hornet nests. He got it from some professional Forestry Supply place. It was amazingly effective compared to the stuff you can buy now.* (That was over 40 years ago.) But, I suppose it was “nastier”.
*The foaming type wasp spray I bought last year generally does the job on wasps, but it takes them MUCH longer to die. I’d be afraid to take on a big hornet nest with it, esp. as I don’t run as fast any more!
We used to have a “dusk to dawn” fluorescent “cool white” light to light up our back porch and sidewalk to my building / shop. But, I replaced it last year with a motion sensor light. A result is that Luna Moths no longer get drawn to the back porch, where I can kill them. I wonder if that contributed to this summer’s crop of hornworms? I kinda hate to kill Luna Moths, because they are so spooky-beautiful, but, their progeny are just too dang destructive!
I forgot to mention, the only bees I see around any more are tiny species like sweat bees, or wood bees. Wood bees I kill at every opportunity - they do way too much damage... I’ve probably directly swatted them right out of the air than any other method!
I’m jealous! The only onions I can get to grow are recycled spring onion “bulbs” in pots. Sometimes.
(We cut off the lower 2” or so and plant those, the greens go in recipes.)
For whatever reason, this summer the starts from Aldi spring onions have done best, and Wal-Mart’s “Organic Spring Onions” just die after a bit, and maybe a little(!) growth.) Last year, the Wally World “Organic Spring Onions” grew much better than the Aldi Spring Onions. Go figure.
However - I have seen one of the moths they end up becoming - the Hummingbird Moth and they come out in the evening - saw one sipping on my hanging basket of Wave Petunias on the front porch.
Which means they ARE around and have made it to their final life stage. Not sure how something so ugly and destructive becomes something so amazing!
Any moth that size may be impressive, but not what Id consider *amazing*. UGH!!
Hi All
With tomatoes coming in I thought I would repost my gazpacho recipe.
GAZPACHO
-4 cups V8 juice
-3 lbs tomatoes, diced
-1 cuke, peeled and diced
-1 green pepper, diced
-1 red pepper, diced
-6 green onions, chopped, tops and all
-1 onion approx.. 2” dia. sweet onion works best
-4 tablespoons good olive oil
-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-2 tablespoons Worchester sauce
-2 tablespoon soy sauce
-salt pepper to taste
-2 to 3 big cloves of garlic, crushed. I usually double that.
Let sit in the fridge for 4 hours min. before eating.
Makes about a gallon. If you don’t like it spicy you can just use tomato juice instead of V8. You can also throw in any extras like finely diced zucchini.
I am finally getting some usable tomatoes, so I may squeak out another double-batch of Salsa this week.
I bought the 'Harvard Square' seed from 'Bounty Hunter Seeds' when you found the 'Sabelka' variety for us to try. It's really pretty, inside and out...and HUGE. I've got two on the counter now and probably another six coming up behind.
Beau will be home again by Friday - he has a Cattle Round-Up to help with at the neighbor's. Can't wait for him to see THAT tomato, LOL!
My wife planted tomatoes that look something like that. Pink & purple bumble bee? There are really cool looking.
I like to throw something ‘different’ into the mix each year, even if it’s only one plant.
‘Harvard Square’ was a fun find. :)
Correction, that’s what I get for posting too early in the morning!
I swapped in my head the big Hawkmoths with Lunas. The Luna’s larvae feed on walnut and hickory trees, among others. My Dad was heavily into research, propagation, and promotion of improved Walnut varieties, and I have a big walnut tree on my property now (luckily not too close to the garden, but some of it’s progeny, distributed by squirrels, have been. A few I’ve replanted to locations further away.) So, not too much love lost there either...
Our slow slide into cool weather (very unusual for us in August) continues. It was maybe very slightly faster last night. NWS says we may set some records this week, not for absolute low temperatures, but for duration of a cool spell in August with temps and dewpoints this low. I’m certainly not complaining! The plants definitely seem to like it too. The tomatoes in particular have resumed normal ripening. :-)
The church picnic was great, except that for some reason all the tables and seating were IN wifey’s church Parish Hall. The hall was jammed anyway, by the time I got in line, as I’d had to go back to our car after the service that ended 20 minutes late, to retrieve our cooler with our food contribution. (Potato salad). The church has a large, almost park-like property, so, I went outside and found a spot to sit under a shade tree, and chow down. :-)
All I could do is laugh at this statement.
The pink-haired, ring-in-the-nose AI bot that wrote it must be unaware that modern water mains are made of plastic. Most new homes are plumbed with PEX (also plastic). All of our garden hoses and irrigation supply/drip lines are plastic. Most food/beverage cans have a plastic lining on the inside.
I'm not shooting the messenger, just saying... lol
My newbies this year were mostly tomato varieties. I find I like the Cherry Falls tomatoes a lot, and, the “Abe Lincoln” tomato fruits are finally ripening. I had my 1st one as part of supper, yesterday. They are not quite as good as the Golden Jubilees* were last year, but, the fruits so far seem very resistant to splitting, and they are still a good (not bland) tomato, with just a bit of zip / tanginess. The plants are popping out many fruits.
*These supposed Golden Jubilees this year HAD to have been a mistake by Bonnies. They are basically indistinguishable (including in color - RED) from the Cherry Falls. No way I could have mixed them all up: The Golden Jubilees as purchased were in labeled Bonnies’ 4” pots, and the labels went with them to the garden locations (soil or big pots). Moreover, I have NO orange-color-when-ripe fruits on anything.**) The next newbie taste test should be the Lemon Boys. I’ve never seen a tomato fruit stay green on a plant so long, but finally one is almost there (turning yellow.)
*The Golden Jubilees from seed from last year’s plants still have not fruited. And, of course, they may not stay “true”.
My one successful Opo plant has also rebounded, is growing fast, and has put out a few flowers. The one I planted a few weeks ago and then apparently gravely wounded with Thai peppers I put in a mole tunnel about a foot away, is grimly hanging on - barely. There are 2 “good” but only about 1/3 size leaves at the top, and the stem is still green. The lower 3’ of leaves all fell off, and there has been no growth for ~ 2 weeks.
My decimated (by hornworms) Heatwave 2 tomato plant (ONE leaf was left!) is beginning to leaf out again. There’s a half-eaten fruit on it, now turning red, and somehow not decaying. I’ll try to harvest some seeds from it - who knows exactly what they might produce?
My biggest Mortgage Lifter plant is still not setting fruits, despite looking very healthy. Time for a shot of Super Phosphate, instead of just “Bloom Booster”, I guess! Ditto for my Asian Squash, a couple of which I need to work with a bit, today, as they are growing over into other plants.
Well, some plastics DO leach a lot more than others, but, I have “no idea”, without doing some research, regarding plastic water bottles.
The alternative is of course metal pipes - which can leach quite a bit into water, depending on what else is already in the water, or not. Who’s low on iron??? ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.