Tomato Tomato!
☆ September 9, 2010
So, when you read the title of this post, did you say, in your head, “to-may-to, to-may-to,” or “to-mah-to, to-mah-to,” or “to-may-to, to-mah-to”? Inquiring minds want to know.
I grew a tomato jungle. My tomatoes, plus one sunflower, are all that survived the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers even devoured Daisy’s pasture, leaving skeleton stalks of alfalfa and grass stems, and I had to start feeding her hay by the end of July. Very sad.
But I did manage to save my tomatoes and one sunflower! Honestly, I was tempted to use pesticides, but I didn’t. Instead, I smashed cloves of garlic, steeped the garlic in oil, strained the garlic-infused oil into a pump-action weed sprayer, added a touch of biodegradable dish soap, diluted it with water, and sprayed this concoction onto my plants.
This had to be done often and my place reeked of garlic and it was hard to keep up, which is why I lost all my carrots and onions and melons and raspberries and peppers and corn and herbs and broccoli and flowers and greens.
I did dig up one handful of tiny potatoes in July after the grasshoppers stripped the stalks bare. Whew. This is why organic produce is so much more expensive.
But look at these tomatoes! This basket is huge – it measures 21″ x 16″ x 7″. And this is just four day’s harvest! Tons more on the vine. Hooray! And YUM.
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September 9th, 2010 @ 7:35 am
Am an Aussie, so “to-mah-to, to-mah-to”
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:38 am
I’m from NJ and I said “to-may-to, to-may-to.”
That’s quite a story, but thanks for sharing. It’s really good to see the realities of farming, especially organically. It gives me a new respect for anyone who grows anything at all.
Beautiful tomatoes, by the way. I want to eat them all up!
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:38 am
to-may-to for me, I’m from the midwest, what is it for you Shreve?
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:40 am
to-may-to for me, I’m from the midwest. What is it for you Shreve? btw, your to-may-toes are beautiful!
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:40 am
sorry, I must have stuttered, =)
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:43 am
that is very sad; you will have to do more investigating over the winter and see if you can find something better. maybe a bug zapper – like mosquitos they definitely are a pest love your to-may-toes which i could come up and share!!!!
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:44 am
One good thing though, Shreve, with all the garlic around your ranch, you probably didn’t have a vampire problem this summer.
Thank you for sharing the photos of your life. Even in adversity, you still inspire so many people with your posts.
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:45 am
I am soooo jealous! Those look yummy! Sorry you lost all your other stuff, but I guess that’s nature. And I say “ta-may-ta” (from Louisiana orginally)!
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:46 am
Down heah in the South we call ’em maters.
My organic garden did well this year, in spite of being in the high desert where we have more rocks than dirt. I have more squash than I know what to do with, and the neighbors won’t even answer their door anymore. Squash, anyone?
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:49 am
Lots O Maters!!! Grasshoppers are sooo destructive; glad I have wild turkeys in the woods that come feast on them in the pasture.
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:57 am
to-may-to, to-mah-to, of course! “Let’s call the whole thing off!”
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:04 am
to-may-to from Canada. You need to let chickens run through your garden, my neighbour has no bugs in hers. Need any chard, I have enough to feed the whole country:)
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:26 am
Ursula and I are humming the same song! And BTW – YUM!!
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:27 am
We didn’t get the hoards of grasshoppers down here in Laramie this year. Sorry to hear that yours were so bad. But those tomatoes are fantastic. It is near impossible without a greenhouse to get tomatoes like that at our elevation. Enjoy on a cold winter’s day!
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:33 am
“ta-may-to ta-may-to” or maybe more along the lines of “ta-made-o ta-made-o”. If there had been a comma in the title, I probably would have gone with “ta-may-to, tah-mah-to”.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:39 am
Beautiful tomatoes!! We had an early frost come in without even a frost warning from the local NWS and kill off our entire garden on August 29th. Sad. But made green tomato pickles and are hanging the rest on the dead vines until they ripen. We salvaged some summer squash and pepper and that’s about all we got. I think my mint and oregano is all the herbs that lived – so bummed I didn’t dry the rest of them while I could.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:44 am
Did you ever think about “catching” the grasshoppers & useing the “protein” in some way? I am aware other cultures roast or fry them,salt & eat them minus the legs. I have always wanted to try them this way but—–lack the —ok courage.Did the chickens put them to good use? Waste always gauls me & I want to use the grasshoppers. Maybe fertilizer?Your tomatoes beg to be devoured.What a picture!
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:50 am
That is very sad. But grasshoppers gotta eat too. Hopefully this will not happen every year.
The tomatoes are lovely. Are you planning to can the excess?
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:54 am
Chickens! We had a beetle problem here in massachusettes and they eat all the grubs before they hatch into the pesky beetles. And they are funny little creatures to observe.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:58 am
Since I’m Canadian, I think “to-may-to”.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:59 am
We have a massive veggie garden. We also have many grasshoppers, and I can tell you what saves us is our one dog, a Cairn Terrier.
She loves hunting and eating anything smaller than her.
Grasshoppers are her favourite followed by moles, mice etc.
I hope you can find a solution to your grasshopper problem for next year. It is such a disappointment that you lost so much this season.
All the best and take care!
Jenn
Ontario Canada
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:00 am
SW FL ….. to-may-to – to-mah-to well actually…. I prefer ma-ters
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:12 am
Well, we got a lot of to-may-tos in July/Aug, but then something (I suspect the groundhogs resident under our shed) got the rest! Also, that same something seemed to eat all the leaves on our bean plants so nada there, too. I do enjoy watching them play in the yard and the dog goes wild, but something must be done for next year…thinking of planting near the house, so the dog is more of a protector. You have a beautiful bounty there! Your spray must have worked well.
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:22 am
Luckily grasshoppers weren’t nearly so bad in Laramie as the rest of the state, but that’s pretty normal I guess. If you’re looking for an organic pesticide search Neem Py. You can use it up to the day of harvest (worked in a greenhouse all summer). Take a look! I’m not sure how it fares against the hoppers but it kept all other bugs away. And white powder mildew.
Also, tomayto tomayto, obviously.
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:27 am
To-may-to. Born and raised in Colorado – definitely to-may-to. :-)
If I’m not mistaken, grasshoppers are a recurring problem in your corner of the universe, yes? If you have a long-term commitment to vegetable/fruit/herb gardening, it may be time for a sturdy solution to your problem — a sizable hoop house covered in screening. Lets in light and air; keeps out bug varmints. A greenhouse supply catalog will sell you such stuff in really wide widths, so you can make a hoop house tall enough to stand in, and plenty tall for raspberries, tomatoes, peas, et al, and cover the structure in one piece. Then you just make the hoop house long enough to suit your interests. You can make it take-apart-able so the structure all but disappears during the winter months, and put it up in spring before you plant.
There are issues with having NO bugs in your hoop house – many plants rely on bugs for pollination. But you can leave the doors open during the times when the varmint levels are low, and keep them closed when the varmint levels are high, and then go out with your paint brush daily to hand pollinate. It’s something meditative to do after the morning-fire-and-coffee is over but before your day swings into high gear.
If the idea interests you, let me know. I can point you to suppliers and low cost/simple component parts. The screening – not so cheap, but lasts for years.
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:37 am
All I can say is Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwhichs…..yummy!
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:45 am
To-may-to x 2!
All that garlic in the air seems like it’ll go great with those tomatoes :)
September 9th, 2010 @ 9:59 am
To-mah-to. I’m English, but live in Canada.
If you can’t eat ’em all you can blanche for 2 mins, soak in cold water then peel the skins, (this is ubber important as skins are ick in home frozen stewed to-mah-to.) great for winter stews.
I had to bring my to-mah-to’s indoors to sit in my huge patio window as it is cold here in Smithers at night. They are growing huge, but still green.
Too bad about your vegi and the bugs. I’m sure you’ll figure out how to combat your problem.
Happy eating.
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:01 am
tom-ah-toes and pah-tay-toes FTW!
Or, if you want to be super cute: Tommies and Taters.
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:11 am
My silly side starting saying “TOE-mah-toes” (emphasis on the first syllable) My boyfriend thinks I’m weird.
I grew three TOE-mah-toe plants on my 5th floor, south-facing, condo deck. They are fabulous! Grew some peppers and green beans too. next year, I’ll venture into lettuce and other greens. We don’t have that much space on the deck, but all we ever do on there is BBQ. It’s our little urban jungle!
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:12 am
Shreve, I finally had to make a greenhouse for my plants…to survive those villans! I made one out tons of old discarded windows..the entire house is all windows..I had a wonderful crop also of tomatoes…All my friends got some and still had some for sauces..I also do not use any pesticides..but the greenhouse helps with that…
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:48 am
Is this grasshopper problem something that happens yearly? Or is it a freaky ‘locust plague’ sort of thing?
If this is a yearly occurrence, and you are not able to do the greenhouse thing, next year, depending on the size of the hoppers and your garden, you might be able to rig some sort of bird netting tent.
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:49 am
Love the grasshopper in the background of the potato picture
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:55 am
Being from PA, I say to-may-toes. However, when I see “tomatos” twice in a row, it automatically becomes “to-may-toes, to-mah-toes, let’s call the whole thing off”. I’m just finally starting to get red tomatos. I’m hoping to turn mine into salsa.
September 9th, 2010 @ 11:07 am
Gorgeous Shreve!! So sorry about the rest of your crop. I first read the title of your post as to-may-to, to-mah-to, then with a little quizzical face… to-may-to, to-may-to? Haha, then I began to read your post. :)
September 9th, 2010 @ 11:11 am
Try throwing some cloth netting over the garden next time. I’ve had a little success with it. We have so much in our garden I should send some down to you.
Charlie must be full of grasshoppers!
September 9th, 2010 @ 11:14 am
I sense a lot of salsa in your future!
September 9th, 2010 @ 11:20 am
I’m from Denmark, so i say ‘tomat’ for tomato and ‘kartoffel’ for potato… Oh and sunflower is ‘solsikke’.
And that concludes todays language lesson ;)
Here we only have tiny, little grashoppers that don’t do much harm. We do, however, have iberian slugs. Nasty little bastards. I hope the don’t take a shine to my enoumous halloween pumpkin plants :S
September 9th, 2010 @ 11:42 am
Shreve, you can get netting and build a cold frame. Sorry for your loss…but nice to-may-toes. :)
September 9th, 2010 @ 12:44 pm
Toe-may-ters! Beautiful ones *LOL*
Favorite snacks? Tomatos with fresh picked basil and ANY vinegrette…sugar snap peas, sliced cuccumbers with a drizzle of yogurt and cheeses….HEAVen…*s*
September 9th, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
well, i am from the south and we call them may-ters =o)
September 9th, 2010 @ 2:26 pm
Beautiful harvest! I see canning in your future. These canned with onion, chicken, peppers, sounds like a great meal on a cold night. (love my pressure canner.)
September 9th, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
I’m with Danielle, my mind said “to-may-to, to-may-to,” but if there had been a comma it probably would been ” “to-may-to, to-mah-to,” :)
September 9th, 2010 @ 2:51 pm
I second the idea of chickens running through the garden as an excellent pest repeller. They looove bugs. Makes their eggs yummy too (:
Here’s a link for grasshopper recipes… I would be tempted after they ate all my crops ahaha (: They have more protein than meat too.
http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~cbader/ghprecwithinsects.html
Ha ;)
September 9th, 2010 @ 2:55 pm
Hey Shreve,
At least you had veggies this summer. On the Oregon Coast we are still waiting for a summer that didn’t come. That means no toe-may-toes. I had a few greens beans and plenty of swiss chard and kale. Potatoes did ok too. Enough wild blackberries to make a pie this past Tuesday too. YUM! I hope you and Charlie and all your other critters have a nice fall season and go can some of those tomatoes for the winter.
September 9th, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
Hi Shreve, Here in New Zealand we say
tom-are-toe. They look scrummy. Enjoy them. Love your blogs.
September 9th, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
Love the tomatoes! I always peel mine, have a special tomato peeler. Though, I always buy organic, I still don’t like the peels. And, I say toe-may-toe. Born in Oklahoma, mother born in Arkansas, father Iowa, raised on a farm. I grew up on Southern Calif., lived for a year in Idaho, needing connection with the wild, outdoors, then moved to SF (the land of perpetual fog), now in Sacramento. I keep moving . . . I like the sunshine here, and the quiet. Can barely stand to go into the city, any city.
September 9th, 2010 @ 4:08 pm
toe may TOE for me and YUM!! Those are sooo beautiful..a bowl full of cut up ripe tomatoes w/salt, pepper and a dab of mayo…mmm mmm good!!
September 9th, 2010 @ 4:25 pm
“andrea” thanks!The grasshoppers parched & ground into flour sounds possible.The site you shared is interesting.Shreve did you use non-hybrid tomato seeds? I have read non- hybrid seeds may become hard to find & hybrid seeds present legal & planting problems if you are a seed saver. Netting was hard to deal with when there was any kind of wind.We had various berries & were reduced to netting each bush.We caught birds we did not want as well.
September 9th, 2010 @ 5:03 pm
I’m a southern girl, and read it as “to-may-to, to-mah-to”. XD
YES. I remember last year, when my dad and I set up our garden, our main harvest was tomatoes, chili peppers, bell peppers, and okra. In that order. However, we weren’t very keen on when to pick the okra, so it was usually tough by the time we harvested it. Oh, well; it softened up well enough in a pot of gumbo!
Oh, boy, I bet Charlie and Chloe didn’t appreciate the garlic, either. My dogs HATE the stuff, but it helps keep fleas and ticks off of them, so it’s a love-hate type of relationship with them.
September 9th, 2010 @ 6:30 pm
re pronunciation- i ditto danielle’s (#14) – esp the “ta-made-o” since i’m originally from “back east” & all middle-of-the-word ‘t’s become ‘d’s. (drives my southern california partner a bit batty!)
sorry abt the losses – so frustrating! (shoulda heard my dad rant on when woodchucks took out 5 acres of stringbeans – overnight!) not sure chickens or ducks (the best!) would work out where you’re living, but i think they are the most effective organic solution, as many have noted.
the tommytoes do look great – looks like you’re gonna be making some spaghetti (pronounced s’geddi) sauce for winter!
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:00 pm
What gorgeous photos, especially the first.
Sorry to hear of your grasshopper plague. I’m guessing Charlie’s presence makes keeping chickens problematic… Interesting solution (literally) you found; at least you saved the tomatoes.
Nice point about the cost of organic farming. We do that on our family ranch as much as we can; all the walnut orchards are now organic-certified. The overhead is much higher, but so (potentially) are the profits.
Oh, and toh-may-toh toh-may-toh; without a comma, my language processing soft/hardware takes the easiest way out…
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
Oh. And…tuh-MAY-dough
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:27 pm
that dirt is gorgeous! i’d kill for soil like that in Savannah. I have a lot of sand that i’ve been trying to turn into dirt for years…..one day it might be rich and lush-i better live to see it! . :)
toh-may-toh
September 9th, 2010 @ 7:48 pm
Chickens and more chickens Fence them in if Charlie doesn’t cotton to them. Then consider a hoop house. I have made them out of 3/4″ x 10′ sticks of conduit with 1″ x 3″ boards as rails. Get commercial greenhouse plastic sets up early for an early start then rolls up and stores at the side then you have your screen for summer. The shape allows you to walk down the center and put raised beds on the sides it also puts up with the Wyoming winds. I have built these upto 100′ feet long so if you need plans let me know.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:06 pm
Toe-may-toe, grew up in Indiana, so a Midwesterner.
Don’t know if this would work for critters the size of your locusts, but a solution of red chilis steeped in water is another organic pesticide that does work for many bug pests on my herbs on my Chicago back porch garden. You have to use it every couple of days or so. Also seems to disgust the squirrels, which are a problem here digging up flower and plant pots.
Enjoy the tomatoes-if they taste like the ones we got at the farmers’ market in Indiana recently, you’ll be saying what my daughter said: “This tastes like essence of tomato!”
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
I have a basket just like that, tom-may-toes and all! I will vary this commentary and give you my very most favorite way to eat them (aside from directly off the vine, of course).
Saute one onion until it is translucent, add 3-4 cloves of garlic(crushed) and 2 tablespoons FRESH thyme and stir for 30 seconds to “wake it up.” Then add 8 cups chopped tomato, skins, seeds and all, plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium heat- tomatoes should be just starting to break down. Garnish if you must, gobble it down hot or cold and be sure to have nice bread to clean the bowl with. We fight over the last of it here in our house. I’ve been canning it the last couple of years and it is a blast of summer sunshine in cold, dreary winter. A most delicious therapy/cure for the winter blues.
September 9th, 2010 @ 8:24 pm
Shreve, I know this is totally unrelated to the topic, but after reading you eco friendly bug spray, I wondered what you did in regards to fleas and if you had an eco friendly alternative. I hate the thoughts of using frontline, advantage or any other chemical drug on my dogs, but seem to be losing the flea battle this year….any suggestions?
September 9th, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
harmanica, that sounds absolutely mouth-watering and I will try it soon. My sister and her family are great tomato fans (my nephew thinks of cherry tomatoes as another kind of berry) and I think they would love your recipe.
September 10th, 2010 @ 5:37 am
Just have to share this story with you. A local black bear “was so intent on getting at a few tomatoes growing in a window box that he climbed a three-storey condominium building to get them.”
Photos:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/09/09/bc-bear-three-storeys-tomatoes.html
Thankfully, you don’t have bears in Wyoming!
September 10th, 2010 @ 7:10 am
Lesley ~ Your last sentence is making me laugh! Are you joking? There are tons of bears in Wyoming!!!
Kristi ~ You can make it! I started out with straight CLAY. Added composted manure and river-bottom silt (carried home in 5 gallon buckets) and food compost. Poured excess raw milk on it, too (raw milk replenishes and feeds the microbes in the soil). And the dirt gets better every year!
I bet you could find the missing ingredients for your soil and mix it all up and… voila!
September 10th, 2010 @ 8:15 am
Here in southern New Mexico, we lost almost everything to grasshoppers last summer. Only the onions managed to bulb up before they were mowed down. And we always get grapes. But the grasshoppers even stripped the trees bare up to about 6 ft off the ground. This summer, most perrenials came back but not all bloomed. You can tell they were set back.
But the grasshoppers did not come back in plague proportion. Last summer’s biblical outbreak was really good for quail.
September 10th, 2010 @ 8:19 am
In Maine we just call them ‘maters. As for the bug problems, you have a farm pond right? Build some housing and a fenced in area to keep the wild things at bay during the night and get some ducks! The eggs are better than chicken eggs, the meat is very good, ducks like anything that hops or crawls, and they do not scratch up the garden like a chicken although they will take the occasional nip at a tomato.
A good resource for organic gardening is MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Assoc.)
I have been a member for years, and the Common Ground Fair in Sept. is great (all organic foods and wonderful talks). you can reach them at mofga.org
September 10th, 2010 @ 11:48 am
try spraying with neem oil Shreve!….you can dilute in H2O and put in the sprayer too!….
Im a New Mexican in Vermont….so I gotta learn to say ” tomaydo”….
September 10th, 2010 @ 1:12 pm
What a heart breaker those grasshoppers!
Garlic & Chili peppers mixed works well too. Chickens, Guinea Hens or Turkeys sound like a great idea.
LOL at the no vampires comment.
Your Tomaytos are GORGEOUS! Sometimes in Alabama we say tommytoes too.
There is a song about Home Grown Tomatos. “There’s only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and home grown tomatos.”
My spell check want me to put an E on the end of tomatos, but I prefer it without the e.
Potatos as well.
MCJ you don’t have to wait til next year to plant lettuce, fall is a good time in the south.
That okra is hard to keep up with, but you have to keep it picked or it will quit producing. Small ones taste so much better too.
There is a great organic solution for fleas in the house if anyone needs one.
September 10th, 2010 @ 7:03 pm
I said “to-may-to, to-mah-to”. Those look yummy.
Making my mouth water for mayo and tomato sandwiches.
September 11th, 2010 @ 12:12 am
ha ! smart grasshoppers they dont like tomatoes either. i have heard of chocolate covered grasshoppers hmmmm. k this is getn icky.
September 11th, 2010 @ 7:02 am
I was doing some work (wildlife biologist) in the rangelands of the Dakotas and Montana this summer, and at a couple of little towns I ran into teams from the USDA that were monitoring grasshoppers. They were afraid there would be an enormous hatch this year. Sounds like there was.
September 11th, 2010 @ 10:58 am
I never knew that moth was the adult tomatoe (to may toe) worm. Its a wonder you had any tomatoes with that tomatoe worm and his bothers and sisters around,. They can eat all the leaves off a tomatoe plant in just a few hours. I have checked my tomatoes one day and the next all the leaves will be gone. Although they are interesting looking moths, I sure don’t want them in my garden.
September 11th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
To-may-toe, to-ma-toe. Said only once it’s To-may-toe, but twice Has to go with the “you say…. I say…” thing. lol
September 12th, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
My bad, Shreve! For some reason I couldn’t picture bears where you are. That’ll teach me to speak flippantly.
September 12th, 2010 @ 9:37 pm
In the NW, or is it just me…tuh-may-tow…what gorgeous tuhmaytows you have there! Yummy! Nothing like the taste of a fresh picked one and the smell of their leaves is heaven!
September 12th, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
Well I said, “Toe-may… willyoulookitthatbasketYUM!” actually.
I am drooling over the plenty. I adore tomatoes plain, just eating them as a fruit. But they are epensive here and I classify them as a luxury. Silly actually. I’m gong to buy some net tie I’m at the store just to slice up and eat!
But nothing compares to sun-ripened, just-picked maters. Yum, yum!
September 13th, 2010 @ 9:21 am
Keitha: ha ha! I wish I could plant some lettuce now. I live in Alberta Canada, a stone’s throw from the Rocky Mountains. There will be no lettuce growing around here until the spring! We’ve already had a few frost warnings and the temps are supposed to drop below freezing overnight this week. My Tomatoes are safely indoors from now on.
September 14th, 2010 @ 3:20 pm
your toms look fantastic! sorry about the grasshoppers eating everything, but sweetheart organic food doesn’t have to be expensive . . . not if you buy it at a co-op when it’s in season. i swear this is the truth.
perhaps trap crops or pest predators could be helpful to you for your next growing season?
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/grasshopper.html
September 15th, 2010 @ 9:50 am
Is there Salsa on the menu?
September 15th, 2010 @ 5:16 pm
Ta~May~Toe for me! :)~
September 18th, 2010 @ 8:10 pm
i had RABBITS. but they didn’t touch my taters. no pole beans for my cat or me. my cat LOVES beans. raw.