bugs bummin' me out

the grey cabbage aphid is destroying all my brassicas! the kale was hit the hardest, but now they are going after the beloved brussel sprouts, the young cauliflower, and i even saw a few on the arugula! it makes no sense. i had never seen them until this fall, and they came on strong. my russian kale was lush just a month ago. they attack the young, tender, new leaves, which basically stunts the growth of the plant, and eventually kills it.



since i garden organically, i am used to hand-picking pests off of my plants. it is one of the benefits of having a small, back yard garden--a person can usually notice and keep up with pest problems. i started by removing these vile creatures with my bare hands, sort of sweeping the leaves with my thumb. but now i just blast them with a strong stream of water from the hose.



it gets them off the plants, but i have to keep doing it, every day. i finally gave up on the kale, and pulled it today. i hope to save the brussels sprouts and califlower, but i don't have a whole lot of hope.

in other bug related news, fruit flies have found my worm composting bins--both at home, and at work. again, this is a new phenomenon for me, and started in the fall. at home, they migrated to the kitchen, too. we have tried everything, including removing any possible food sources cleaning meticulously (and drying everything), plus trapping them with vinegar. we have reduced their population immensely. lately, we "vacuum" them up with the back of a hair dryer. it is strange, but effective (and secretly satisfying).

so far though, i'm not really finding any answers about the worm bin problem. experts say to bury the food scraps in the bedding, or to wrap them in newspaper to avoid attracting fruit flies. i always do one or both of those things, and have never had a problem. now, i still do those things, and i have a fruit fly infestation, and it is not going away. it is especially problematic at work, as i am trying to get the vermiculture system established, and this is a huge set back.

your suggestions and/or commiserations welcome.

for the love of brussel

this is what i was dreaming about on february 12, 2010.



that's when i planted the brussel sprout seeds, under a grow light in the basement.



we finally had some for dinner, two nights ago--almost 9 months later!
how they made it into those little tiny, tightly-packed cabbage balls, considering all the pests and drought the season thew at them, is a mystery to me.



i have a few wasps to thank, for keeping the cabbage caterpillar population under control (plant dill & fennel to attract them to your garden).



they are so yummy when they're fresh, and i've heard that the ones that come from california aren't as sweet, because they never go through a frost. ours have, and you can definitely tell.

high summer

it's still july, right? geez, this summer is flying by. i wanted to post about the fourth of july, but that was ages ago, right? well, it was a lovely weekend. we had some family in town, we cooked from the garden and many hands of UNO (cosmo's current favorite game) were played by all. oh, and there was a parade, some cook-outs and a trip to the lake.



the lake was my favorite part. it's a relatively secluded spot (in fact, for a while, we were the only ones there, on the actual day of the 4th!) we had a picnic, did some swimming, and went mushroom hunting in the woods. it's chanterelle season here, and this spot is notoriously thick with those unmistakable, salmon colored beauties. we collectively gathered over 2 pounds.



at home we made a fantastic dish involving butter, white wine, cream and some onions from the garden. hard to go wrong with that list of ingredients. we dried some, and throughout the week used them fresh, in a mushroom beet curry, a garden stir-fry, and pa jun (that korean scallion pancake i'm always raving about).



they have a distinctive, yet mellow flavor, are easy to cook with, and impart a sort of meaty-ness to a vegetarian meal. i love how easy they are to find. not at all like those perfectly camoflaged, rare and elusive morels. these guys are plentiful and their bright color makes them stand out on the forest floor. i say we went mushroom hunting, but it was more like the woods were saying, "here, have a basket of chanterelles!" this is the first time we have gathered them, but it won't be the last.



the garden, by the way, is blowing my mind. the tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. we've enjoyed a few cherry tomatoes, but one of the big guys is a soft shade of orange, so it won't be long. i noticed some spotted lower leaves, on a few of the plants (signs of disease), so i pruned all of the lower leaves, and yesterday i sprayed them with a seaweed/fish fertilizer, just to give them a little boost. now our garden smells like a fish cannery. yum.



many of the branches are so laden with giant tomatoes, they are completely bent over. but, they're hanging on, and seem fine.

i had to pull out the evil third step sister from the three sisters garden. she was severely diseased and pest ridden, and i feared she would contaminate the nearby cucumbers. so, no more pumpkin. we're down to two sisters, but they are doing wonderfully. the corn is towering over my head, at over 8 feet tall! the ears are forming, complete with lush corn silks.



this is a completely new experience for me, i've never grown corn. it is very satisfying so far. and the beans are dutifully climbing the stalks, and starting to flower.



a couple of times i had to untangle the bean vines, which were pulling the corn stalks towards one another. and bending them. but other than that, they seem to make great companions.



the okra is setting pods now. we pickled a few, and they are delicious! the okra flower is so pretty! it looks like a hibiscus or a rose of sharon, and in fact, is sometimes known as african hibiscus. the plants cut a dashing figure in the garden.

the cucumbers, though probably also diseased (those damn cucurbits!) are producing plenty of fruit!



they are the pickling kind, so we made our first batch of fridge pickles and found them scrumptious. i used a recipe from organic gardening, on a whim (i am so susceptible to images in magazines!) and next time i will try one that does not include sugar.



i cut the sugar down to less than a quarter of what it called for, but it was still too much. i want my dill pickles savory, not sweet. but they were still crisp and yummy--looking forward to more of that! using our own fresh dill was a treat.



oh, and then there's the cabbage! we have lots of it, and it is astounding. i picked the biggest one, and made some kim chi. also used some of our carrots, but this was not the tastiest crop of carrots i have grown. i just planted another row, for a fall crop.



the garlic is out of the ground, and hanging in the wood shop to cure. harvesting garlic may be my favorite garden task. the fragrance is intoxicating! it was a beautiful harvest, and this year, i will save some for next year's seed. last year, they were so small, i didn't want to plant them, so i just bought more. this year's look as good as i could get from johnney's.



in it's place is a buckwheat cover crop. i'll be planting fall crops in there, probably today.





the morning glories are not as lush as i had imagined they'd be, but they are climbing the twine, and they have glorious blooms every morning, so, i can't complain. this year, i planted president tyler, and heavenly blue.



the leeks are taking their own sweet time, as are the brussel sprouts, but they are starting to show the tiniest of brussel buds...aren't they? they taste better after a frost anyway.

here's hoping you have the chance to take your own sweet time in a garden this summer, too.