They're baaaack . . .

Only two inches of rain instead of the predicted 3-5, but it was more than enough to entice a return of the slugs. It's not as bad as earlier in the season, but I did kill 12-15. I also re-baited. They were focused mainly on the delicatas. Maybe because they are close to cover in the wood line, maybe because they are among the healthiest of the plants, maybe both.

I picked a nice sized eggplant yesterday, and have another one just about ready to go (bottom of the first plant on the left). There are also four or five more coming soon. Like the pepper plants, they really took advantage of the long, hot dry spell. Unlike the peppers (except for the two jalapeno plants that were loaded for bear), they actually also are producing, as well as growing well.

Most of the vine winter squashes are also trying to take advantage of the recent weather, with varying degrees of success. The butternuts are doing the best, with lush new foliage, and several new fruit buds about to open, but with the harvest moon just five weeks away (10/4), I just don't think that there will be enough time for them to develop. What a screwy year.

It also seems that the chamomile plants are done (except for a few smaller potted ones I stagger-planted. This was my first year with chamomile, and overall, it was not bad. From four plants, I got enough flower material to fill about half of a zip lock sandwich bag. Not sure how many cups of tea that will brew.

Feast or Famine.

After 22 days (August 6th-27th) without a drop of rain, we've had 1.2 inches since last night with a total of 3-5 inches forecast. So, after a sopping wet June and July, and a mostly parched August, we're back to opening the floodgates. As I feared, the ground being baked hard by the hot, dry weeks is making water absorption difficult, and there's a lot of standing water.

I did manage to pickle about two pints of jalapenos, and have been drying herbs for the winter as well. After a few years of experimentation, I've found that the best way to accomplish this while maintaining maximum flavor/aroma is to dry them in the refrigerator, and then store them as whole has possible.

Pick the leaves of your herbs (basil, thyme, sage, etc. - even chamomile flowers), and lay them out in beer trays lined with a single layer of paper towels. Cardboard beer trays are much better than metal cookie sheets because they allow better breathing beneath the layer of herbs. If you use different sized beer trays, you can also stack them alternately in the fridge, so that you can dry several herbs at once and avoid crushing them. They take longer to dry in a refrigerator, but they keep a lot more of their color, and I think, flavor.

Onc completely dry, store as desired, but keep the leaves whole. Only break them up when you are about to use them. Crush them in your hands, as this will release the essential oils which give them their flavor/aroma. You'll be amazed at how much closter to fresh they are.

Bugger Off!

So of course the day after crowing about my delicata, I found out this morning that they are all infested with squash bugs. I had noticed leaf damage recently, but wrote it off to the Japanese beetles I have been seeing and killing. However, there was no mistaking the little grayish-bluish youngins crawling about this morning.

I killed dozens of the junior sized ones on the plants, and picked over a dozen clutches of eggs. I even managed to kill the one large adult I found. which may have been the originator of the infestation. I did a little research and learned about a product called Neem Oil. If the little buggers get out of control I may have to try it out. About half of the butternuts were infested as well, but nothing else - so far. My guess is the larger leaves of the healthier delicata and butternut plants were more attractive.

A very delicata situation.

The summer is quickly flying by, and it has now been 14 days since any significant rainfall. The ground is warm and dry, and all of the plants are trying to catch up. Most plants finally look healthy (though stunted), and most are now starting to bearing fruit.

The one major exception has been the potatoes which at first thrived in the cool rainy weather, but then started their die back about three weeks ago; much earlier than normal. At first, I thought that the tomato blight had done the deed, as they showed signs of infection, but I sample harvested from three different plants and though small, the tubers show no sign of infection (fingers crossed). Most of potato plants are completely dead, but I will leave the tubers in the ground as long as possible.

The winter squash have me especially worried. By now, the vines are usually 20-30 feet long with large green leaves and several fruits per plant. Last year we got 19 carving pumpkins and 28 butternuts from 8 plants of each variety. So far this year, the largest of the seven carving pumpkin plants are barely two feet long, with tiny leaves, and just one fruit developed - which I pollinated by hand yesterday but does not look good. From 11 butternut plants, I only have four growing fruits. This year I also tried buttercup squash (two fruits on seven plants), sugar pumpkins (no fruits on six plants), fairytale pumpkins (no fruit on three plants), and a variety from Italy said to have originated in Jerusalem (no fruit on two plants). Again, all plants and their leaves are underdeveloped.

The only winter squash thriving are my eight Cornell Bush Delicata. These are a variety of delicatas engineered at Cornell University to grow in a bush like summer squash, instead of on long vines like other winter squash. I was intrigued at the potential to save space so I bought a packet of seeds from Park Seed. I put in eight seeds into starter flats, and all grew strong and healthy. So far I have 12 well-developed fruits with others showing promise. I've taken to hand pollinating all of my winter squash this year in an attempt to jump-start fruit development, which has been hampered by the cool, wet June and July. I learned about hand pollinating from this blog, and have already applied to to two butternuts and several delicatas (one of which I was able to do in the manner to save for seed!)



As you can see, they really are bushy rather than viney. I'm guessing that these plants did better because they were from select seed, in the highest and driest part of the garden, and get the most sun in a given day (I still have some more trees to fell). According to this news release from 2001, though engineered, they are not hybrids, so I will be able to save seed and propagate. We shall see.



.

You say tomato, I say tomahto.

Finally, our first grape tomato has started turning! This is by far, the latest we've ever had to wait for tomatoes. I'm starting to see blight again, too. Not bad considering I had not sprayed since June. I took the Serenade to the tomatoes again, and also the potatoes which have also started to show blight. The fight against the slugs continues as well. Boy they stink after being dead for a couple of days,