What the Heck?

Three tomatoes with holes? What the heck?  It looks like some smarty pants birds have found my not-so-secret garden. I tried keeping this damaged one on the vine extra long to draw the criminals away from the other good stuff ripening but it got really moldy really fast, so it had to go.  I've been picking the tomatoes a little early and letting them ripen on the counter until I figure out a fix.

I've read that moving things like balloons and flashing light such as reflective tape can scare the birds away but it's only temporary.  Online suggests the only real fix is to drape bird netting over the plants. Do all roads lead to bird netting in Florida?  It wasn't too long ago that we were looking into bird netting for the cucumber and pickleworm fiasco.  Well, I gotta figure out something quick cause there are some real beauties out there waiting to ripen.

Can It!

Fresh from the garden

Before the cold temperatures set in last week, we swept through the garden and picked all of the tomatoes that we could in order to save them from frost damage. When tomatoes get frosty they thaw out all squishy and gross, they don't take freezing well at all.  We tossed around a few ideas to use them up but no matter what we do, we will not eat this many tomatoes before they go bad. So we canned it!

Oh no, our skin!

I removed the skins by scoring the blossom end and dropping them in boiling water for a few minutes. Next up was a dip in an ice water bath and the skins just come clean off.

Tomatoes in their birthday suits

I've read that the skins get bitter so that's why you see so many recipes taking them off.  The tomatoes aren't acid enough to can safely in a hot water bath without a little help, so I added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart and then jammed in as many tomatoes as I could.  They spent 45 minutes bubbling away in a big pot of water and then it was time for their photo shoot.......