Another incredible 84ยบ day out there, dry and breezy, and I'm missing it again! BUT... this is the reason I have a garden, right? More canning today! Since it took a week to amass the tomatoes I needed this time to warrant canning, it's obvious that the season is winding down out there. Yet another sign that summer is ending...
Butternut Squash!
I'm starting to get a lot of grape tomatoes off the plants I put in after the Amish Paste succumbed to blight, I'm thinking I'll dry these since they are wonderful added to hummus during the winter. The second planting of beans are starting to produce now. At least those and the bell peppers above are easy to take care of:
Although if I'm ever arrested for a crime, it will probably involve the heist of a semi-truck carrying FoodSaver bags, they sure are expensive. I start to get nervous when the roll starts emptying!
The week's batch of Brandywines were turned into crushed tomatoes with basil. I also decided to strain and pressure can the juice separately as well today. It can't hurt to have some of that on hand to add to stews or chili this winter, although I'm sure hubby will have a different idea for that - probably involving added jalapenos, a celery stick and a little something extra :)
Just for fun and information -
I have some ornamental gourds growing on the fence, and I noticed one that had little holes drilled all over it. Hmmm "what now?" I ask myself. I'm not too torn up about this since they aren't for eating anyways, but I couldn't resist finding out what new-to-my-garden pest have I encountered?
I already had a bowl of water/bleach mixture to dip my squash in before storing, so I decided to be a little demented and throw the little gourd in just to see who's living in there...
See it? Little green worm on the left side being flooded out of his comfy home! I put it on the counter to dry off, thinking the bleach surely would have killed him when I came back. Nope, 10 minutes later he was inching across the counter towards safety. Needless to say, he went down the drain a second later, but what the heck worm lives through a bleach bath and keeps on truckin'?... a Pickleworm! Apparently they prefer the squash family and are easily distinguished by those little drillbit looking holes bored into the fruit. So now we have that to look forward to, since I assume it won't be happy with inedible ornamental gourds and will surely move on to become my nemesis in some other fruit next year. If you want to read more about the Pickleworm, click here, and if you prefer to remain in the dark about new pests, I can't blame you! Anytime we start googling things like "un-killable green worm drilling holes in gourds", do we really expect good news?!
