Posted on 08/31/2012 10:10:05 AM PDT by greeneyes
Prayers up for all in the path of Issac. God Bless.
Pinging the Garden Thread List.
I am SO GLAD y’all got rain! We got about 10” total. Power was out about 18hrs but other than that no damage. Feathered pets even produced an egg yesterday.
I thought you might get some ‘heavenly’ relief. Now so to NOT offend those that are suffering from Isaac’s landfall, you all are in my thoughts and prayers.
I remember when Georgia suffered the type of drought they are having in the middle of the country now. They said it would take 3 or 4 Issac-like storms to get the water table back to normal.
Even though the drought officially ended 3 years ago we still collect shower water to flush the toilets and water our plants with air conditioner runoff. It’s like being traumatized.
I’m going to try saving tomato seeds this year. How ripe should the tomato be? When is the best time to pick it?
And how does one process the seeds, so to speak?
Thanks for your support. I heard that St. Louis has made all kinds of preparations for flooding, but in general it’s felt that the soil in the fields will be able to absorb the moisture without causing undue problems in most gardens/fields.
We always try to be pretty conservative with water due to being on a well, and several neighbors had wells that went dry during the time we have lived here.
We did have our well drilled pretty deep to begin with, but no since wasting water.
Our tomatos are still producing a few small tomatos, our banana peppers are producing and my hot banana peppers are almost ready to pick. Okra has about had it.
Our ghost pepper sprouts are looking good. Thanks again, Oshkalaboomboom
Ripeness depends on the critters you have that steal tomatoes.LOL. Seriously, though I usually pick some tomatoes when they just have a blush on them. Rinse in warm water, dry and wrap in newspaper to ripen.
Some I try to let ripen on the vine, but these the squirrels often get. Either way, I have not noticed any difference in the viability of the seeds.
Just pick the best tomato you have, scoop out the seeds, squirt with a little liquid oxy clean. Rinse and drain. Then put them on a paper plate, label and put another plate on top with holes. Put them on top of the refrigerator.
When they are dried out put them in an envelope or empty medicine bottle etc. and store in the Refrigerator or freezer till Spring.
I am no expert. This is just what has worked for me.
You are welcome.
What plants we have left, have really perked up due to less heat and more moisture. I plan to plant some spinach and lettuce after we get the weekend rains.
Mrs Red Devil and I made a trip to Meridian, Ms to check on our house and property. The house was in good shape and just as we had left it. The yard needed mowing and it took me two days to mow it. We rented a Pensky Truck to empty a 10X30 storage unit we had 1/2 full of stuff. We moved it to the house and tossed out quite a bit of stuff we will never need. This well save us $100/month in rent on the storage unit. The truck only cost us $49 for a day rental. Worth the cost. We loaded up our little utility trailer with items we needed and missed in our first move to Marshall, Tx. We drove back Wed. which was two days earlier than we planned. Seems like we are magnets for paths of hurricanes and we left early to try to avoid the weather problems which worked out great. But it was a long drive back because the utility trailer became unstable over 55 mph. So it was 55 or slower for the 350 mile drive.
Cashmere enjoyed visiting her old home running all over the place. My pear tree was loaded with big ol’ pears and we picked all that were ready. The fig trees were thriving but I suspect the guy we hired to mow the yard picked them clean. So no figs to savor. Drats!
here is a link on how to save your tomato seeds.
http://gardening.about.com/od/totallytomatoes/ss/TomatoSeeds.htm
And here are the instructions for using Oxi-Clean to save your seeds. This is much easier than the process above.
http://www.settfest.com/2009/01/saving-seeds/
It's truly surreal to watch every living thing struggle to survive. I can't contemplate yet the end of the high temps and little to no rain, because I'm not there yet... Here south of KCMOMetro it was 100 degrees yesterday... it will take a lot of rain just to soften the ground.
We are getting light rain from Isaac at the moment with east winds. That is not a common occurrence. The forecast is maybe a total of one inch of rain by the time Isaac moves through.
Hope everyone is safe and sound after Isaac.
Not a drop of rain here and temps back up to 100 today. Earlier in the week it had dropped down into the mid 90s so the tomatoes and peppers were happy. I just got in from loading and dumping 6 wheel barrows of dirt and weeds into the slobber buckets' holes so this evening, if it cools off, I can get back to getting the fall garden in. It was supposed to be all done by today but that ain't hap'nin'. The new beets and beans are popping up but the cole veggies haven't yet. Still need to put some more beans on another fence, put a little chicken wire for some peas and plant some mustard, spinach, kale and kohl rabi. I had an excuse for not getting it done - we went to the 2016 Obama movie yesterday.
Ok, so there are a ton of little orange and black bugs about a 1/4 inch long in the garden. The closest picture I could find online is (below) an asparagus beetle. But mine aren't beetles. They almost have fuzz rather than a hard shell and are easy to smoosh. Their markings are close to this picture and I don't seen them in the asaparagus. What do I have and should I be concerned?
Pick when your tomatoes are ripe.
To save the seeds, scoop the seeds of a good tomato into a small jar or container. Cover with a couple inches of water. Set it uncovered on top of the fridge for a little warmth. It will get all icky with scum but it’s supposed to do that. After 3-4 days, dump it into a tea strainer and rinse the ick off. Put the seeds on a shallow dish and let dry out completely. Store in a jar or envelope until Christmas (your time zone may vary) when it’s time to start them inside. Don’t forget to label and date the envelope.
We’re getting some rain from Isaac here in Central Missouri today. Too little, too late, I’m afraid.
You will have to wait for one of our more seasoned gardeners, I do not have a clue what these are, but I’ll betcha you should be concerned.
I just pick off bugs and squash or spray plants with hot pepper, onion, garlic, soap, oil water mixture.
Last time we had to rent a truck, it cost us $150.00 for 1 day. We had to rent it on a Saturday after we got to Dad’s house to remove his furniture for him.
We had no rental trucks in our area that would rent a truck to go out of town. On the bright side, we were able to make good time in our car going to Dad’s house.
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