Game on!

I'm not one to pick fights, but the rats have arrived in the garden and bloodied my nose.  I went out this morning to pick some tomatoes for the fire-roasted tomato salsa (which turned out great by the way, washed down with cucumber margaritas) and noticed that several tomatoes had been gnawed and slashed by the vermin. 

Now I know these rats are not the filthy, disease-ridden sewer dwellers of the big city, but then again they're not Remy from Ratatouille. Nevertheless, they're into my stuff and they must go.  It'd be one thing if they focused on one plant, I could easily sacrifice one of the hybrids and set it aside complete with searchlights and a marquee.  But nooooo,  they move from plant to plant nipping and gnawing like they're on some sort of foodie excursion.  And they ruin everything they touch. It's uncanny how they seem to know that I'm gonna pick that near-perfectly-ripe tomato TOMORROW, for when tomorrow comes, I find it laying on the ground half-devoured, and I'm too late, again.

When Alberto Contador took advantage of Andy Schleck's broken chain during this year's Tour de France, Schleck told reporters, "My stomach is full of anger and I will take my revenge."   I couldn't say it better myself.

Traps will be deployed at 2030 hours.  I've chosen the Tomcat T-Rex style snap traps that worked well for me last season.  Baited with a peanut butter/cheese cocktail, I'm quite confident.

Time to kick some rat ass.

Upside down

I have to admit that the upside down tomato-thing really works.  Those are REAL tomatoes on that plant, but then again that's Celebrity for you.  I really believe that variety will grow anywhere and in almost anything.

I harvested some zucchini, a Marvel Stripe (that I forgot I had sown), Paul Robeson and Rutgers.  The little pepper is Lipstick, which goes great in Tuna Salad.

We recently spent the day with friends at  the OC Fair in Costa Mesa and had a great time.  No trip to the fair would be complete without a visit to the Centennial Farm.  So while the kids were busy riding the Vomitator and the Spine Cracker, I made my way amongst the raised beds of produce.  Oh, and let's not forget the gigantic pigs and their very recent piglets.

Summer!

Where did the second half of June go?  We spent last weekend in Palm Springs with friends - 114 degrees!  Too hot  to grow much of anything worth eating, but the palms look great.

Here's an updated photo of the sickly pepper from a few posts ago - as you can see, it's much happier now and bearing plenty of jalapenos.

Speaking of jalapenos,  I've got several of these giants waiting to be stuffed and loaded into the Chile Grill for the 4th.

This is Rutgers loaded with tomatoes in the Earthbox.  Everything is progressing nicely with the exception of the two mentioned in the last post.  No rant this time.

Don't let the size fool you, they're actually SunSugar  cherries.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July!