Your bigger problem is going to be the deer. Pine needles used constantly for years as a mulch (as in under a pine tree) will only very slightly acidify soil, but as the needles break down, I believe they end up pretty much neutral - kind of like all composted plant material tends to be. I grow a lot of things under some slightly limbed up spruce in one of my gardens - hostas which deer will eat but tend to recover, "Dart's Gold" ninebark which is such a vigorous grower it can handle and outgrow nibbling. Ostrich ferns, actaea pachypoda alba, wild columbine, astilbe, bleeding hearts never get touched. On the outer edges with the most sun, I use an old variety of nepeta which has always been reliably safe along with my divided Stella d'Oro daylilies and some sedums - neither of which has been browsed so far this year. In the spring I've got an understory of scilla, muscari, puschkinia, and forget-me-nots - none of which any creature seems to bother. If you search the web for deer resistant plants, one of the first entries is the New Jersey Agr. Ext. service (NJAES). That has a big chart of plants, trees and shrubs and rates them as to rarely damaged, seldom severely damaged... Nothing is foolproof, however, given the variables of avaiability of natural food, what deer develop a taste for in any given area etc.

Yes, Ellie Topp has a recipe; I've made this (sans cinnamon) and thought it was quite good. I like the way it incorporates all kinds of veggies. Multi-Use Tomato Sauce Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 10 plum tomatoes -- (about 2 1/2 lbs./1 kg) 10 large tomatoes -- peeled and chopped (about 4 lbs./2 kg) 4 large garlic cloves -- minced 2 large stalks celery -- chopped 2 medium carrots -- chopped 1 large onion -- chopped 1 large zucchini -- chopped 1 large sweet green pepper -- chopped 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes -- (125 mL) 2/3 cup dry red wine -- (150 mL) 1/2 cup red wine vinegar (5% strength or more) -- (125 mL) 2 bay leaves 1 tablespoon pickling salt -- (15 mL) 2 teaspoons dried oregano -- (10 mL) 2 teaspoons dried basil -- (10 mL) 1 teaspoon granulated sugar -- (5 mL) (optional) 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon -- (2 mL) (optional) 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper -- (2 mL) 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley -- (50 mL) Combine tomatoes, celery, garlic, onion, zucchini and green pepper in a very large non-reactive pan. Add 1 cup (250 mL) water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, covered, for 25 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Soak sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water until softened. Drain and dice. Add to sauce with wine, vinegar, bay leaves, salt, oregano, basil, sugar, cinamon and pepper. Continue to boil gently until desired consistency, stirring frequently. Discard bay leaves and stir in parsley. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process in a BWB 35 minutes for pint (500 mL) jars and 40 minutes for quart (1 L) jars. Description: from Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard's "Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving"" Yield: "12 cups"

DON'T THROW THEM OUT YET!!! Is the only problem is that they were potentially low acid and everything else is okay? (SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME OR CONFIRM THAT WHAT I WRITE NEXT IS CORRECT.) I think the only risk is THEORETICAL botulism. Mould etc. shouldn't be a problem in properly canned tomatoes even without the acidifier. (?) In the unlikely case that you do have botulism, isn't it denatured by boiling the product for at least 20 minutes? (PLEASE CONFIRM.) If that's the case, then just label the tomatoes for your own use, do not give them away, do not taste the raw product, and cook for at least 20 minutes. When I crack open my canned tomatoes, I cook them that long anyway to make a tomato sauce. Also remember that the acidification is because tomatoes are borderline acidity. Hopefully someone else can answer whether the acidity of the ascorbic is sufficient.

One thing you all need to learn is that humic substances have the most amount of misinformation spread about them in the agricultural industry and even more in the hydroponic industry. To answer a couple of questions. 95% of fulvic products, usually potassium fulvate are not what you think they are. Anyone who talks about a super concentrate is a salesman. Pure fulvic will read ppm the only thing that won't is pure water. Humic acid and fulvic acid are the two main organic acids extracted from humic substances. Humin is another but is of no use in hydroponics as it is completely insoluble. When people talk about solubility of humic and fulvic this is not actually correct. they form what are called colloidal suspensions. Commercially they are extracted from brown coal also called low grade coal or lignite, preferably from a brown coal called leonardite which is more soluble because it is more oxidised and the average oxygen and functional group content is higher. They are also extracted from peat, leonardite is high in humic and low in fulvic generally and peat in comparison has a higher fulvic content and lower humic content. I won't go into the details of extraction and isolation but basically potassium hydroxide is used to get the soluble humic substances into solution and then the humic acid is precipitated to separate it from the soluble fulvic. An array of different additives are used to increase the effiancy of extraction and are usually dependant on the source material of the humic matter. I have worked on humic substances for 15 years consulting all over the world inc. Europe, Russia and China. If you want to make your own home made fulvic the easiest way is to buy some peat, and add about 1.5 litres of vinegar to 500g of peat. Mix well and leave for a couple of days or more. Strain out the peat and your done. If you have a highly decomposed compost this will work as well especially if you have added microbes to your compost.