Re: N & C Midwest; July 2017 !

CapeCoddess 7/26/2017, 7:23 am

Have you ladies tried making your own natural spray out of herbs.? I use one that I bought online and it works very well! I don't think they are making it anymore but it's called shoo fly. It's an oil that I mix with glycerin and water, then spritz it on from a spritzer bottle.

Also, don't eat bananas during mosquito season but do eat more garlic and oranges.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/26/2017, 9:29 pm

It has just rained sooo much here...the mosquitos are everywhere!

CC, natural stuff doesn't even phase them. I even tried the Avon Skin So Soft gentler spray. They are completely ignoring it.

Mowed tonight with Deep Woods OFF! And didn't not get a single nite....now need to shower this toxic wonderful chemical off of my bod...lol

Did harvest my 13 bulbs of garlic before the rain! Some are baseball sized, some golf ball sized! Curing in my garage....took 2 German Green maters (they are impossible to tell when they are ripe..green when ripe (GWR). We'll see! Also got an unknown oblong orange type thingy and a patty pan! YUMMMM!

Compost pile needs attention.

CitizenKate 7/26/2017, 10:31 pm

One summer when I was playing a lot of golf with a co-worker, she was getting eaten alive by the skeeters, and they weren't touching me. And I wasn't using any kind of repellent. So I wondered if that was because of what sort of stuff was in our diets. We both drink a lot of coffee... we both love lots of veggies. But at the time, I was eating a lot of garlicky Italian food, so I wondered if it might be all that garlic I was getting in my diet. They could be offended by garlicky BO?

I still think there may be something to that. I don't eat as much pasta, these days, but whenever I'm getting bitten a lot, I try to work some garlic into my next meal or two, wait a day or two, and I do seem to get noticeably fewer bites after that. No real science in this, just sharing some observations.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/28/2017, 11:47 pm

CitizenKate wrote:One summer when I was playing a lot of golf with a co-worker, she was getting eaten alive by the skeeters, and they weren't touching me. And I wasn't using any kind of repellent. So I wondered if that was because of what sort of stuff was in our diets. We both drink a lot of coffee... we both love lots of veggies. But at the time, I was eating a lot of garlicky Italian food, so I wondered if it might be all that garlic I was getting in my diet. They could be offended by garlicky BO?

I still think there may be something to that. I don't eat as much pasta, these days, but whenever I'm getting bitten a lot, I try to work some garlic into my next meal or two, wait a day or two, and I do seem to get noticeably fewer bites after that. No real science in this, just sharing some observations.

Yes CK I think you are onto something there...I too have noticed, that dependent on my dietary intake, bugs lose interest.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/29/2017, 10:48 am

OK, the unknown orange oblong mater is a paste type. Ran over one of the garlics with my car last night, grrr....moved them to the patio to finish curing. Enjoying the cool temps.

CitizenKate 7/30/2017, 1:26 am

I'm canning salsa tomorrow, and this time I have company. One of my nieces wants to learn how to do canning, and I've got such a nice crap-ton of perfectly ripe tomatoes this weekend.

My onions came out mostly pretty small again this year, and the peppers are setting lots of fruit, but the sun and heat still seem too much for them, they're all getting rot spots wherever direct sun hits them. Methinks the next year I do gardening - I may take a break next year - I'm going to give those peppers some shade cloth. Poor things just don't seem to get a chance to get any bigger than a golf ball.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/30/2017, 8:01 pm

CitizenKate wrote:I'm canning salsa tomorrow, and this time I have company. One of my nieces wants to learn how to do canning, and I've got such a nice crap-ton of perfectly ripe tomatoes this weekend.

My onions came out mostly pretty small again this year, and the peppers are setting lots of fruit, but the sun and heat still seem too much for them, they're all getting rot spots wherever direct sun hits them. Methinks the next year I do gardening - I may take a break next year - I'm going to give those peppers some shade cloth. Poor things just don't seem to get a chance to get any bigger than a golf ball.

Wow! you go! I am really jealous about canning...i dont' have time nor the stuff to do so...some day....

**Scorpio Rising** 7/31/2017, 8:11 pm

Picked my first actually ripe largish eating tomato, a Great White! Can't wait for a BLT!!!s. Lots of sungold cherries, an accidental beet/weeding casualty, jalapeño and bell peppers, including some super mini sweets which I haven't tried yet! Pulled the pea trellis. And Daikon plants where the much enjoyed pods came from. Also yanked a Yukon Gold accidentally!

CitizenKate 7/31/2017, 9:25 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Picked my first actually ripe largish eating tomato, a Great White! Can't wait for a BLT!!!s.

...the moment... you've all been waiting for... CHOMP!

Meanwhile, I hadn't checked on my Tabasco pepper plant for a while, but today found it was loaded full of these cute little one-inch-long yellow guys...
N & C Midwest; July 2017 ! - Page 3 Tabasc10

N & C Midwest; July 2017 ! - Page 3 Tabasc10

I finally got to taste one today, and let's just say, it lives up to its name. Si, Señor, this is one great little hot pepper, and it's an heirloom, so I'll be saving seeds from this one!

**Scorpio Rising** 8/1/2017, 7:16 am

CitizenKate wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Picked my first actually ripe largish eating tomato, a Great White! Can't wait for a BLT!!!s.
...the moment... you've all been waiting for... CHOMP!

Meanwhile, I hadn't checked on my Tabasco pepper plant for a while, but today found it was loaded full of these cute little one-inch-long yellow guys...

I finally got to taste one today, and let's just say, it lives up to its name. Si, Señor, this is one great little hot pepper, and it's an heirloom, so I'll be saving seeds from this one!

Those are adorable!!!!

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