Green... but not with envy

Summer's sad, soggy end did not bode well for my "crops." Instead of a second round of salsa and salads, sauce and sandwiches, I've got a big brown bag full of under-ripe tomatoes. Sigh.


I plan to make some green tomato relish. Does anyone else have any recipe suggestions?

Meanwhile, I did manage to cull some seeds from my riper, redder specimens. Before this final harvest, I wasn't all too sure that there would be any to collect from, and I've been wondering if seed-saving from under-ripe tomatoes was advisable. Now that I have my "control group" of ripe tomato seeds, I think I will go ahead and save some green tomato seeds as well. This little experiment should keep me quite busy in the greenhouse come winter.

Here's a murky shot of my rather murky tomato seeds...


Apparently you need to soak the seeds in order to allow them to ferment. This was news to me. Does anyone else out there soak their tomato seeds? With my first batch, I simply scooped them out and plopped them on a paper towel to dry. Days passed, the seeds affixed themselves to the towel, and as I was prying them off and doing my best to pick away the papery fuzz they'd acquired, I realized that there might be more to this seed-saving thing. A little time with Google revealed a whole step-by-step, seed-saving process. Who knew? Anyway, if I'm really feeling scientific, I may sow the unfermented, Bounty/Roma hybrid seeds as well. It may be a long, slow winter, after all.

Holy Hyacinths!

For some reason my Hyacinths are under the impression that spring is right around the corner. . .



They bloomed quite nicely a mere 4 months or so ago. What's it with me and over-eager bulbs? And what should I do? Cut them back? Or is this their way of siphoning off a little nourishment before the long winter ahead?
Please advise!