Fall Crops are Falling!

Falling prey to caterpillars!  They are everywhere and the Bt I have been spraying just makes them stronger.  I got some spinosad in the form of Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew but we've had rain every evening so I haven't been able to spray.  The rain is gone today and the forecast is clear for the next week so I will spray tonight in one last ditch effort to save what's left of the butternuts and cocozelles.  The spaghetti squash and pumpkins are done.  One pumpkin and no squash on a dozen plants and the one pumpkin was attacked last night and has holes all over.  All but one butternut was attacked, too.  The butternut holes are tiny so I'm hoping I can still save them and just cut the wormy part out.  They won't store, but I could cube and freeze.

The biggest butternut, not looking too good.

Spaghetti squash covered in powdery mildew and chewed by caterpillars which have made their way into the vines.

The last cantaloupe.  Starting to see a theme?  Yup, the caterpillars feasted last night!

 

The good news is that only a few of the cucumbers have been hit with bugs and no powdery mildew yet so I get to keep those for a few more weeks, or so.  Also, all the winter veggies like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, etc. are doing great.  The caterpillars only seem to like the cucurbits.  If I pull them now, I free up a lot of space to plant onions, garlic, leeks, carrots and greens, among other things.  I am somewhat sacrificing the cucumbers because, once everything else is gone, they will be the feast of choice.  Hoping to keep spraying and keep them from moving onto winter crops.

The sweet potatoes are curing nicely, and I cooked with the ones I harvested early, about a month ago.  I made scalloped potatoes at gratin.  They started out as scalloped potatoes, but them I covered the top with cheese so, technically, they are au gratin.   I think.  Never was really sure of the difference.  Whatever the name, they were the best sweet potatoes I've ever eaten.  Ever. In my life.  Even my daughter loved them and ate two helpings.  I didn't follow a recipe, just sautéed an onion and garlic in butter, added salt, pepper and crushed cayenne pepper and wondra flour and made a paste.  Then I poured in some heavy cream and added chopped chives and the sauce was done.  I mixed in the potatoes and poured it all into a baking dish, covered it with grated asiago and baked at 400 till potatoes were soft and the top was brown which took about 30-35 mins.  Everything but the flour and dairy came from the garden-love that!  I didn't get a picture because they were gone before I even thought of it.  

We had the potatoes with a salad and a crock pot roast.  I even made an apple slab pie for dessert.  Used this recipe from King Arthur Flour.  I had a store bought crust and was short on time but it worked great.  I will attempt to make the crust from scratch next time.  Oh my, it was a great dinner.  I will have to run a few extra miles today, but it was sooooo worth it.  

One last thing, but it's not garden related.  Hope no one minds.  Here's a somewhat grainy (pulled it from a video on my phone) of my son riding his bike for the first time without training wheels!  

So proud of him.  Go Little Man, go!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

Don't Quit Your Day Job

Not much got done in the garden today; I actually had to work.  I'm pretty fortunate to own my own business and work from home.  I get to set my own hours and can work from my kitchen table in front of the windows that overlook the garden.   The problem with that is I, sometimes, get distracted by the view beyond those windows and I end up putting the work aside to play outside.  That was the case this week.  A combination of nice weather and a vacation mindset (even though we've been back for over a week), kept me from completing the stuff that actually brings in a paycheck.  

I got a late start after school drop off because I stopped to help a turtle cross the road and then help a little white dog find his owners.  Poor thing was so scared, but very sweet, and his owners drove by calling for him about ten minutes later.  It must be wayward animal day in my neighborhood. 

So, today was a day to hunker down and get everything finished.  I used the dining room table (not much of a view out that window) to keep me on task.

Luckily, I had help (she says sarcastically).

This is my daughter's kitty, Princess.  When my daughter is at school, Princess follows me around.  She tries to pretend like I am her favorite, but she drops me like third period French as soon as my daughter walks in the door.   When I'm working, she tends to sit on my work and get in the way.  Today was no different.  These construction company logos took twice as long as usual because she kept attacking my hands as I worked.  I did have a good laugh or two at her expense when she backed up while playing with a balled up wad of discarded vinyl and fell off the table.  I am pretty sure laughing at the kitty used up all the good karma I built up this morning, but I couldn't help myself!

I did take a few minutes to snap a couple pics of the garden:

I found lots of little butternuts.  This is Early Butternut grown from seed planted directly in the garden on Aug 19.  There are at least a dozen of these little guys. 

Cucumbers.  My favorite variety Alibi-an almost sweet, small cucumber great for fresh eating or pickling.  They always are the first to bloom and they produce well.  These were planted the same day as the butternuts.  There are not many things cuter than baby cukes!  Mixed in with them are some watermelon that self seeded.

Here is my two sisters bed consisting of squash and beans.  On the back trellis are the Christmas Lima beans that have grown over my head (and I'm 5'9) in the three weeks since planting the seeds!   Everywhere there are squash plants, there are beans in the same bed.  The pumpkins are Lil Pumpkemon; a small, early decorative variety that are white with green and orange stripes.  The description said "strong, vigorous, early maturing vines" so I planned to train them up and over the trellis, but they look distinctly bushy.  The spaghetti squash description said "plan for 5-6 foot vines" so  I planted in two spots and planned to let them fill in the bed.  They look VERY vigorous and I have a feeling they are gonna travel.  Good thing the beds to the right are empty until garlic goes in this winter.  I'll let the vines travel in that direction.  The squash should be harvested just in time to plant garlic.

Tomorrow is a busy family day so I probably won't get out to the garden until Sunday.  I plan to add some worm castings and Azomite to all the fall beds and, weather permitting, harvest one of the three remaining beds of sweet potatoes.  I also hope to bake banana bread and make some broccoli cheddar soup.  I may get one of those things done, lol!  Look for the banana bread recipe tomorrow.  It's my favorite and oh so good.  

Thanks for reading,

Jen