Rats. When rodents invade not just your garden … but your car.

Q. The rats have been getting into my car engine and chewing the wires. How can I keep them out?

Welcome to the club! All our cars have been invaded by rats, and my daughter just spent a couple hundred dollars to repair some damaged wires. They can even get inside the passenger compartment. Imagine driving along and a rat scurries across your dashboard!

Prevention, in this case, involves making your car less attractive to rats.  Do not keep food in your car!  Remove any food wrappers or containers and anything that smells like food. You don’t want to reach into your glove compartment and feel something warm, furry and bitey. 

Keeping rats out of the engine compartment is a little trickier since they can easily climb up under the hood. Rodent repellent sprays that smell like cinnamon or mint are supposedly effective. Repellents containing predator urine are probably even more effective, but I’m not sure if the smell would get into the ventilation system and create a different problem. 

Electronic devices that emit a noxious high-pitched sound and have a motion-activated strobe light may be more effective. The device automatically turns on when the car is off and can run off your car’s battery or 3 AA batteries. I plan to try both the spray and the electronic repeller since both had good reviews on Amazon. We’ll see what happens.

Q. I heard that sun tea is not safe to drink. Why?

Unfortunately, this is correct. Sun tea, which is made by placing a jar of water and tea bags outside in a sunny place for several hours, is not safe. The water warms up enough to reach temperatures in the “danger zone” for food poisoning (between 40 and 140 degrees).  

As an alternative, I suggest brewing a half batch of very strong tea, then diluting it with cool water and keeping it in the refrigerator.

Q. We have been overwhelmed with tomatoes. Other than canning, what can we do to use them up?

Roma-type tomatoes are ideal for canning and making sauce and salsa. They are determinant, meaning that they produce all their fruit at once. They can be used in recipes for freezing if you don’t want to can them. Try making your own catsup, since this uses up a lot of tomatoes and is more flavorful than the commercial stuff. It can be frozen as well.

Beefsteak tomatoes are delicious in sandwiches, salads, and soups. Slice them and arrange on a platter, alternating slices of fresh mozzarella with the tomatoes. Sprinkle chopped fresh basil leaves and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Fresh tomato soup is delicious, especially with grilled cheese sandwiches or cheese bread.

If you have a dehydrator, dried tomatoes are nice to have around for snacking or using in recipes. We like to dry cherry tomatoes because they are so overwhelmingly productive. Dehydrating can reduce the weight and volume of vegetables by 90% or more, making them easier to store.

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu