Weekly Garden Thread - July 22-28, 2023 [Grow It & Grill It Edition]

July 22, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[metmom]

What works good on asparagus beetles?

I ended up with them last year and found that a jar with soapy water and a daily beetle check worked the best. Knock them into the jar and the soapy water kills them right off.

I also scraped off any eggs I found on the spears.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That sounds great! I love to slice and fry it in EVOO and butter - and don’t be skimpy on the garlic! I add shredded Parmesan before serving.

If my oven EVER gets fixed - it has officially been BROKEN longer than I’ve had it; just bought it in June - I will be baking and freezing Zucchini Bread and Muffins. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Re: Asparagus Beetles.

Neem oil is your organic choice. Since the asparagus has gone to fond and you won’t be eating any of it, and it’s not flowering to attract bees or other good bugs, you could use a Sevin spray (or hose end) and that will knock them right out.

[MomwithHope]

Thanks I’ll pick some up. Hubby has probably picked them all off by now. But we’ll be ready in the spring.

[MomwithHope]

check out this great gardener in Northern Michigan. He also has a youtube channel

https://gab.com/Schaafcraig

[Pollard]

Almost time to start planning that Fall garden.

This animated gif I see while trying to type is really distracting btw. Could you stick them in post #2?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks! Great link! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I messaged you as to why things are set up the way they are.

Also - as a matter of fact, planning the Fall Garden is next week’s topic; I’m planning that, myself! :)

I bumped it back a week for the veggie grilling topic.

[Augie]

Hot-n-sticky for the most part with plenty of wind and rain here in Central Missouri this past week. It's been nice to have a break from constant watering.

I've been harvesting 20-25 carrots every few days. Those go through Mrs. Augie's juicer with the top going to the horses and the shreds going to the chickens. A little something for everyone. lol

I chopped the sweet corn patch on Saturday. Trimmed the cobs and tossed in the fridge overnight, then boiled in the shuck, cooled, peeled, and the corn sliced off into freezer bags for use later. If you haven't tried boiling in the shuck it's worth the attempt. I trim the pointy end back far enough to get rid of any earworm mess and leave the shuck attached at the butt end. It's amazingly easy to get rid of the silks when done this way. Most of them will come off when the shuck is peeled back. I didn't get the yield that I normally would due to the wind lodging that started right as the plants were beginning to tassle. It had almost stood itself back up when the next round of winds came and knocked it down again. Pollination was very uneven with some ears not being pollinated at all. 2nd planting will go in this week if we get another day or two of dry weather. Hopefully that one will live its days unmolested by the wind and bring a bumper crop to the garden.

Mosaic virus, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles have been bad this year. My cukes are pretty much finished. Spaghetti squash all dead but one. Cantaloupes are setting fruit but most of the vines are looking bad. Gourds have set a mountain of fruit but are also suffering from withering vines. Watermelon unaffected so far.

I tried Candle Fire okra for the first time last summer, and was so pleased with it that it's the only variety I planted this time. It's nice to look at and much easier on the skin than the old standby Clemson Spineless, and it stays tender even if you let it go a fews days too long before picking. The color is really nice but it mostly turns green when it's cooked. Good stuff.

[Qiviut]

We got almost a half inch of rain last night & we were at the point of needing it.

The Celebrities are coming in hot & heavy. This year, they are HUGE! Never have they been this big - almost softball size, just unbelievable. My brother visited yesterday & took some home - his tomatoes aren’t ripe yet. I walked 8 of the largest & prettiest over to the neighbor - he has 2 scrawny plants with 2 or 3 small tomatoes, just starting to turn, so he was glad to have large ripe ones.

Thursday will be spaghetti squash harvest day - I must have 20! My brother only likes butternut or I would have loaded him up with squash too. The plan is to give a few away & bake, then freeze the rest. My vacuum sealer is now readily accessible & I found 2 rolls of vacuum storage bag material, so that’s all good.

Walked the Collie in the back pasture at 1:00 this afternoon - there were deer running everywhere (a herd of 5) & she didn’t know who to chase- as soon as she would start after one, another would bolt across her field of vision. She finally just stood there and barked LOL!

[Paul R.]

Dang, a lady stopped by our place late this afternoon trying to give away a dozen chickens. Apparently their dog suddenly decided it liked chicken, and it’s keep one or the other. I declined, as we have as many as I can keep up with already. But now I’m really thinking I could have “squeezed in” her two Ameraucanas. Our friends love the blue eggs...

You gonna cook the raccoon and feed it to the chickens? Lotsa good protein there. ;-)

[Qiviut]

No, we didn’t eat the raccoon. We do eat all the deer meat from successful hunts in the fall.

It turns out that the “lone survivor” hen is not the one laying brown eggs! One of the hens was laying the largest ‘blue’ eggs & this is the hen. She got some garden greens & overripe Sungold tomatoes this afternoon, which she enjoyed.

[Silentgypsy]

OOOOOOOOOh, zucchini bread!

Let's not mention the "a" word (appliances?. Two tornadoes ripped through the neighborhood at the end of March and fried the fridge and the washer.

[Silentgypsy]

Speaking of garlic, one of the Food Network chefs has a house seasoning that I tweaked and I put it in salad dressings and on practically everything else: two parts each paprika and garlic powder, one part each salt, pepper and onion powder. I think her program was called “The Delicious Miss Brown.” (Only one part onion beause I use a lot of diced and minced onion—yum!)

[Paul R.]

One thing I have found is that the breeds with more “game bird” heritage elude predators better. We have yet to lose an Easter Egger, for example, to a predator.

[Qiviut]

The latest massacre took place at night when the chickens were roosting, so there was no chance to be ‘elusive’. There were no signs of struggle, like feathers everywhere, so they were picked off one by one & swiftly killed.

[Qiviut]

Very hot today, but determined to have some garden time before it got unbearable.

Harvested a lot & made up a nice box for the fire department up the road - we needed them a couple of times Dec/Jan so I wanted to say thanks.

Their box included all (must have been 10) Giant Marconi peppers - all from only 1 bush, but it’s been prolific. 1 bell pepper - I dropped another one & messed it up, so they got the best one. About 6 huge, beautiful Celebrities and 8 cups of Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. I gave them 4 nice spaghetti squash & they got two frozen packages of scallions, one of white parts & one of chopped green parts.

I pulled all the scallions this morning & froze on cookie trays, then vacuum sealed them.

The Dragon Egg cuke vines were pulled up & the chicken is getting some of the cukes cut in half - she likes the seeds. The borage got taken out of the herb garden - it’s pretty much gone. Basils got trimmed back & the marigolds were trimmed of spent blooms. Any spaghetti squash vines outside of the fencing were cut back - the squash on those vines were harvested. No weeding - maybe tomorrow or Friday.

I love it when the produce is coming in, but dealing with it can be very tiring!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie! The Okra Nice!

Severe storm here last week. Something like 100K people lost power. Lost mine for 5 days, very difficult without AC or in some rooms, light. Luckily we had Running water (Hot and cold.) Spent a lot of time bundling storm debris which is still sitting in bundles in the front of the house.

This year i planted about a dozen Northern Xtra-Sweet™ Hybrid Sweet Corn, 67 days. (Was that yours?) Its about ready. It was in a sheltered area along a fence so it did not lodge. Not certain I got good germination, since I did not plant a large number, but the ears are growing. Since small thought I would give it a try.

I am getting cucumbers, but they are protected by insect netting. I used the Beit Alpha types so they do not need to be uncovered for pollination. all my other squash has been disappointing.Two zucchini so far (!) and 2 patty pan squash. (Tons of blossoms....I picked a bunch of blossoms and made a squash blossom quiche. ) I have one bush butternut squash. Last year for the bush variety. Several Red Kuri did set and I hope the vines survive the borers long enough to get to maturity. (They are running up among the supports for the pole beans which are just about finished in this heat and with all the cucumber beetles.)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Sorry to hear about your flock. (Weasels!)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

(Not weasles...raccoons!) They are raiding my tomato plants too!