Worthless Garden.

[PlainJane]

Why not try dehydrating them and making tomato powder? Would be a versatile seasoning.

[worth1]

Why not try dehydrating them and making tomato powder? Would be a versatile seasoning.

I don't have a dehydrator, but I thought about it.
The humidity is running too high for right now but we shall see.

[pepperhead212]

I don't know what it is, but it seems that tomatoes resist dehydrating to the hard, "crispy" state, to grind into a powder - they just seem to stay leathery for a long time. Eggplants and butternuts, OTOH, get hard as a rock in a short period of time.

[Danny]

I whiz them up in the vitamix, skins and all, unless saving seed ( then I cut 'em and squeeze them), dry the puree in a thin "fruit leather" sheet until real dry then grind it up to powder. Tween the vita mix and the excaliber, it works good.

[worth1]

It's the year of the grasshoppers.
The trashy things are eating as we speak.

[worth1]

Early morning shots of the Worthless garden.
Lots of spiders.

IMG_20230707_054742222_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230707_054847455_HDR.jpg

[PlainJane]

Look at all those Juliets!

[worth1]

Look at all those Juliets!

My neighbor left to go to North Dakota for a couple of weeks.
He said the guy that came by to look after the place took some of my tomatoes.
I told him to tell the guy I noticed.

[worth1]

IMG_20230709_104514812_HDR.jpg

[worth1]

Bean vines still kicking no blooms.
The volunteer pepper plants about ready to bloom.
The pulla pepper sprouts croaked due to neglect of one day of not watering.
Chard is being eaten by grasshoppers.
Carrots in hibernation.
Now what on earth to do with the tomatoes.
Some are going to work mate that has never in his 62 years on this beloved planet had anything but store bought tomatoes.

[worth1]

This is ridiculous I'm still getting fruit set in this nightmare of a heatwave.
Watering every 2 days in the tubs.
Not bad considering everything.
Nothing like picking and eating a nice ripe tomato while watering.
This weekend I'm going to cut the cargamanto bean vines and plant Anasazi beans in their place.
Obviously the cargamanto beans aren't going to produce and look sickly.
No idea if the Anasazi beans will sprout but we shall see.
Not likely they were heat treated so they should sprout with help from me.
They adapted/evolved to a dessert environment as it is.
Might try a Roman/cranberry bean or two as well.
Swiss chard is still going good but haven't cut any.
Lord only knows what the maybe dormant carrots are up to.
Too hot for grasshoppers.
White flies gave up the ghost well over a month ago.
No horn worms.
Plenty of spiders.
No stink bugs.

[bower]

That Juliet is amazing.

[worth1]

Tomato plants were watered today after 3 days without water.
Just now starting to wilt.
Lots of dead dried up leaves.
Volunteer pepper plants have a pepper on them.
Many blooms just turned yellow and are going to drop.
They are what I knew they were unless they cross bred.
Pepperoncini or how ever you spell the darn things.
I did have a jalapeno cherry pepper cross one time that fooled everyone.
Peanut plants act like a cactus.

[worth1]

Did some heavy pruning of the tomato plants.
Just old wore out leaves.
Considering the hell they're going through they look fantastic.
Lots of new growth.
These Juliets take a pounding.
No insecticides or other chemicals at all.
Just 13-13-13 and water.

IMG_20230730_090323560_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230730_090346806.jpg

[worth1]

I bet I have the best looking tomato plants in the neighborhood.
Everyone else's are either dried up or pulled up.
The bean vines turned into a trap crop for the grasshoppers.
Which is fine by me.

[Wildcat82]

My 3 Juliets have done horrible this year. Two plants under shade cloth look terrible just like the other 3 plants in the same raised bed look terrible too. I think the shade cloth is the cause. But the one in a pot hasn't produced anything either. Meanwhile, both Super Sioux in the same type of pot, same water sparing crystals, same fertilizer, full sun, are producing extremely well. Not sure why.
This is really surprising since the other 4 years I've grown Juliets, they continued producing til the end of August. They are about the only variety with which I've had any consistent success with here at all until this year.

IMG_3095.jpg

[worth1]

That's strange.

[Wildcat82]

I bet I have the best looking tomato plants in the neighborhood.
Everyone else's are either dried up or pulled up.
The bean vines turned into a trap crop for the grasshoppers.
Which is fine by me.

You need to get a few hens to control the grasshoppers. We normally don't get any grasshoppers here but one year we did. That year I would kick back on my chair in the back porch and enjoy the show. The hens would be slowly walking around the yard then...boom, all of a sudden they'd either form a dogpile on a grasshopper they found on the ground or all four hens would chase a hopper around the yard, jumping, flying up into the air or diving at the hopper til they pecked him to smithereens. Sometimes the chase would last for 5 minutes or more.

[worth1]

I bet I have the best looking tomato plants in the neighborhood.
Everyone else's are either dried up or pulled up.
The bean vines turned into a trap crop for the grasshoppers.
Which is fine by me.

You need to get a few hens to control the grasshoppers. We normally don't get any grasshoppers here but one year we did. That year I would kick back on my chair in the back porch and enjoy the show. The hens would be slowly walking around the yard then...boom, all of a sudden they'd either form a dogpile on a grasshopper they found on the ground or all four hens would chase a hopper around the yard, jumping, flying up into the air or diving at the hopper til they pecked him to smithereens. Sometimes the chase would last for 5 minutes or more.

I really want laying hens really bad.
I have the perfect spot for them right outside my bedroom window with a little work to protect them at night.
I want a rooster too so I can have babies as well.
I get up before the chickens and go to bed with the chickens so they won't bother me.
Plus I'm allowed to have chickens here and I hear roosters crowing all the time anyway.

[Wildcat82]

I recommend Australorps. They're big, fluffy, very docile, very quiet, heavy layers and do well in the heat Expect 5 eggs/week/hen. Every single morning I go out to feed the girls, the runt of the litter (Alice) flies up into arms so she can can get first dibs on the feed. Sometimes she'll just perch on the shoulder while I walk around the garden. I really should post a video of her greeting me every morning.