Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Oh Snap!

DSC_1735_4646While on garden patrol this evening, I noticed some of the Mule Team tomatoes were lower in elevation.  Upon further inspection I noticed that a vertical jute line had broken.  The weight from the tomatoes was more than it could bear.  The single line was replaced with a quadrupled piece of line.  There were 8 tomatoes that busted loose.  Sure.  Fried green tomatoes are a wonderful dish (The movie and book are great too.  I love Fannie Flagg.).  Frying is so messy plus I need to reduce fried foods from my diet.  These will simply sit above my kitchen sink until they turn red.  Perhaps they will be diced up into a salsa.

DSC_1727_4638 Here’s the wall of Mule Team tomatoes that came tumbling down exposing the Henderson’s Pink Ponderosas that are not yet pink.  Can you see the center piece of jute that had snapped from the weight and fallen to the ground?

The hornworms that escape me continue to graze on the tomato and pepper leaves.  When I do catch them they are lazy, slow, and fat.  Even though they are slow, when I catch them in the evening there are no birds in the yard to help so I have to act quickly.  The best I could do on short notice was to use my garden Crocs.  Don’t look if you’re weak.

Turn away if you’re squeamish.

If you tend to be moved easily to nausea, please move on.

Okay.  Only the strong remain.

Don’t blame me.

Blame you curiosity.

DSC_1742_4653 This one was affectionately known as Squirt.

9 comments:

Missus said...

Thanks for the laugh, Maybelline!

I hope your green tomatoes do turn color (see that? I left out the u in colour just for you), because they look beautiful otherwise.

MAYBELLINE said...

*Missus: Thanks for your consideration; but I am multilingual in all forms of English. Having grown up reading the People's Friend, Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, and the Broons I can pretty much translate most any English to American. Spanglish isn't so bad either.

Bill Bird said...

Sorry to hear about your loss. It's best at these times to hold a small wake and drink cheap gin that comes in a plastic bottle.

On another note -- I'm continually amazed by my luck when it comes to a lack of hornworms. They just haven't been a problem this year. I didn't spot any last year either.

We're about a month behind you up here. My plants are finally fruiting at a frenzied pace -- especially a potato-leaf variety called Black Sea Man. Just don't run those last two words together too quickly when you say "I love...."

Bill

MAYBELLINE said...

*Bill: You are hysterical!

Melissa Price said...

QUICK, squish the little bugger, Maybelline!!! i take it you took care of the pests. I HATE tomato hornworms... they're quite intimidating, aren't they? Hope you'll have no more. : ) Melissa

MAYBELLINE said...

*Melissa: I take a tour in the morning and the evening to pluck the pests and squish them. They're huge in size and number this year.

Joyce said...

OMGosh, you rock with your crocs. Nothing like a good beatdown on those varmits. This year is a first for me for battling these hornworms. Your tomatoes look great. Love your garden going-ons.

Glennis said...

That's the kind of carnage I can get into!!!

And you can make green tomato pickles - they're good!!

MAYBELLINE said...

Green tomato pickles?! I must do some research. I've been making salsa today. Heaven's nectar.