The stink bugs and squash bugs are under control

I checked both gardens today, and found minimal signs of stink bugs and squash bugs. A few adults and a few nymphs & larvae found early deaths this morning, but the total bug count was under 20. A stronger presence of cucumber beetles can be noted. Although smaller than stink bugs, they carry a disease that is fatal to cucumber plants; bacterial wilt.  I noticed several cucumber plants wilting away to nothing. A few days ago when I first noticed the spreading damage, I picked all the cucumbers off of the affected plants.

Now that I got the bad news out of the way, here is some good news. Todays harvest yielded 4 zucchinis, 3 yellow squashes, along with a nice handful of beans, an 8" yellow carrot, a big fat cucumber, an 8" asian cucumber, a garlic bulb and a medium sized mature onion bulb who's plant decided to turn brown and fall over.

The kale and pea seed harvesting is finally finished. There were enough pea seeds to can two quart sized jars of peas. The total count was about a pound of dried peas. We have cilantro, dill, spinach, and the first variety of lettuce seeds drying.

There are more squash and cucumber seedlings in the works. Over two dozen plants await their chance to produce fruit in the garden beds. First I'm going to fatten them up with a bit of worm castings and Dr. Earth  organic vegetable fertilizer.  As soon as I publish this blog, I'm walking outside to do just that.

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Total produce count for the year:

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

5 blackberry

7 blueberries

1/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

1.75 lb assorted (green)bean pods

2.1 lb cucumber

5.8 lb zucchini squash

2 lb yellow squash

3/4 lb kohlrabi

1/2 lb red onion (bulb)

6.6 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.6 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4 1/2 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

Produce Update

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Total produce count for the year:

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

1 blackberry

7 blueberries

1/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

1.5 lb assorted (green)bean pods

1.6 lb cucumber

4.2 lb zucchini squash

1.25 lb yellow squash

3/4 lb kohlrabi

3/8 lb red onion (bulb)

6.5 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

11 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.6 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4 1/2 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

Stink bugs

It's 12:32 am. Deb and I just got home from spraying two products on the squash, melons, and cucumbers.

Dr Earth bug spray; an organic approved "bug killer". It didn't even kill the baby stink bugs when directly sprayed. We waited for a good 30 minutes and it didn't work.

The second weapon was a mixture of about 10% Dr Bronners soap(a natural body soap product with organic oils of various plants) and the rest water.  The Dr Bronners worked! The stink bugs died.  And there were a ton of them. Big ones, small ones, even a ton of tiny reddish brown eggs.

The stink bugs have been terrible this week. Many of the eggs must have hatched, and the babies are hungry. The larvae have been destroying leaf after leaf of cucumbers, squash, melons, and now even beans. Deb & I also built a LED powered stink bug trap. We aren't sure if it's going to work outside, as opposed to indoor use. Here is the link for the trap we built: Stink Bug Trap . We built ours exactly like the video says.

We will post results of the trap shortly.

The stink bugs won the first battle, but we won tonight.

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Total produce count for the year:

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

1 blackberry

7 blueberries

1/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

1.3 lb assorted (green)bean pods

1.25 lb cucumber

3.5 lb zucchini squash

1.25 lb yellow squash

3/4 lb kohlrabi

1/4 lb red onion (bulb)

6.5 lbs carrot roots

7/8 lb beet roots

4 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.5 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4 1/4 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

STILL NO TOMATOES

I can't believe we don't have any ripe tomatoes yet. Deb spotted an orange cherry today, so the feast is about to begin. I just purchased a pressure canner, and I've canned some squash, veggies, and other assorted goods already. I plan on canning the hell out of some tomatoes and peppers for the winter.

We've noticed the brussels sprouts have started forming the side buds that become the small heads we see in the produce section. That's exciting!

The pests are at it like mad. I've been hand picking stink bugs, squash bugs, Japanese beetles, asparagus beetles, and the first tomato horn worm of the season.

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Total produce count for the year:

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

1 blackberry

7 blueberries

1/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

1.2 lb assorted (green)bean pods

5/8 lb cucumber

2.75 lb zucchini squash

1.25 lb yellow squash

3/4 lb kohlrabi

1/4 lb red onion (bulb)

6.5 lbs carrot roots

7/8 lb beet roots

4 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.5 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4 1/4 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

Produce update

The picking is good!

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Total produce count for the year:

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

1 blackberry

2 blueberries

1/32 lb sweet banana peppers

5/8 lb assorted (green)bean pods

1/16 lb cucumber

1 lb zucchini squash

1/4 lb yellow squash

1/4 lb kohlrabi

6.5 lbs carrot roots

5/8 lb beet roots

4 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.2 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

3 1/4 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

3 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

Produce update

Today I harvested the last of the carrots. Next year I think Deb & I should thin the carrots out a bit more. I noticed the carrots that had some growing room did just that, and grew bigger roots. Today I picked another kohlrabi head, 2 young zucchinis, a few peas, and some green beans.

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Total produce count for the year:

51 strawberries

15 raspberries(golden variety)

1/2 lb assorted (green)bean pods

1/16 lb cucumber

1/4 lb zucchini squash

1/4 lb yellow squash

1/4 lb kohlrabi

5.0 lbs carrot roots

1/2 lb beet roots

4 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.2 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

45.75 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

3.1 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

3 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions

Produce update

It's time for squash, beans, kohlrabi and tomatoes. Actually, the tomatoes are still a week or so away. The fruits that we have now are still green. The beans are getting fat, and the squash are finally getting to be worthy size. Peppers are not far behind. We've spotted several little bumps that appear to be pepper starts, and two sweet banana peppers about 1" long each.  We have lots of basil plants growing strong. We've been incorporating basil into meals on a regular basis lately. This morning I cooked a breakfast pizza with basil on top. I found that if you soak basil in water before putting it on something hot, the leaves are less likely to turn dark colored.  About an hour ago, I pulled the most gorgeous garlic bulb we have grown yet. It had a diameter over 2" wide, and the flavor was awesome! We immediately separated one of the cloves, and replanted it in the same hole left from the swollen bulb. We picked 4 beautiful beets from the home garden. One of them was almost fist sized. Canned beets are tasty, but can't compare to freshly steamed sweet beet roots.

Today, Deb & I enjoyed a kohlrabi head about 2 and a half inches wide. We decided a good way to describe the flavor of steamed kohlrabi would be called it a very mild cabbage taste. I actually went a step further and called it a mix of the taste of cabbage, and that of corn. Either way, it's good. The beautiful purple color cooks right out, leaving the head a pale green.

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Total produce count for the year:

51 strawberries

15 raspberries(golden variety)

1/4 lb assorted bean pods

1/16 lb cucumber

1/8 lb zucchini squash

1/4 lb yellow squash

1/8 lb kohlrabi

2.5 lbs carrot roots

1/2 lb beet roots

4 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.5 lb sweet/snap peas

15.2 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

45.75 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

3.1 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

3 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions