The Squashes Are Coming! The Squashes Are Coming!

So it begins.  When prevailing against squash bugs, another issue arises: an abundance of squash.  Sometimes too much to know what to do with.  I have to admit that my squash bug problem is in large part my own fault.  A couple of years ago, I had no idea what a squash bug was.  I *did* see these cute little bluish-gray beetle-like things on my plants, but didn't think anything of it.  A few weeks later, I saw the damage they did and discovered what they were.  The war has been on ever since.

Last year, I actually planted NINE zucchini plants because the first couple quickly succumbed to the squash bugs.  I hardly had any squash in spite of having so many plants.  This year, I have really stayed on top of the pests.  I don't get them all before they lay eggs, but for the most part, the war has gone my way.  So now, I have four zucchini plants that are really starting to produce.

So back to the issue at hand:  What to do with all that squash?  Well, first off, make sure you pick it when it's relatively small.  That will help you avoid getting absolutely overwhelmed.  For preparing it, I personally like zucchini sauteed in butter.  I had one just  yesterday with lemon pepper and some other spices and it was delicious.  My wife doesn't like it that way.  She prefers to steam it and melt cheese on it.  That's pretty good, but I think it gets too soggy.  Today though, I used some zucchini in such a way that even my pickiest kids will eat it:  Zucchini cake.  It's just your basic carrot oil cake with zucchini substituted for the carrot.  Carrot cake is pretty moist, but zucchini cake is even better.  And the kids ate it WITHOUT FROSTING!  Anyway, back to the garden.

The beans are starting to produce a lot.  I have basically two 8-foot double rows of pole beans.  The pile shown here was picked over about a three day period.  I also recently picked some cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and crook-neck squash.  By the way, chickens love to eat squash and tomatoes, so that's my fallback if I have too much squash.  And they do a fantastic job converting it (and other things) into eggs.  Can't argue with that!

This is a volunteer tree - at least I think it's a tree - that is growing in one of my pots.  At first I thought it was a canyon maple, but these leaves look nothing like a maple.  I have no idea what it is.

The banana squash vines have reached the top of the trellis and a couple of them have almost reached back to the bottom.  And because I planted these where I had already planted pole beans, I have bean vines all over through the squash.  Makes it even more challenging to find all the beans.

This is a Baby Pam pumpkin.  They're used to make pies, which Camary and I did a couple of years ago.  Good stuff.

These are the beefsteak tomatoes.  Still no sign of ripening, but they're getting big!

This is celery.  If I didn't mention it before, I started these seeds a looong time ago.  Somewhere around February or early March.  They're still not even close to being mature.  This isn't a crop for the impatient.

I picked a couple of cucumbers yesterday.  The first one was extremely bitter.  The second was good.  I have heard conflicting reports about bitter cucumbers.  The one I trust the most (because then I'm not to blame) says it's a genetic thing and you should remove any plants that produce bitter cucumbers because they will all be bitter.  I didn't keep track of which plant produced which cucumber, so I'll have to pay more attention next time and see if this is true. Other sources say bitter cucumbers are the result of inconsistent or insufficient watering.  I would have believed that in other years, but not this year.

Jalapenos.  I can't wait to be able to start using these.  The ones I get at the store are frequently very mild.  Others are extremely hot.  I'd like to have some consistency.

The kids are excited about the watermelon.  So am I.  But they're so small it's hard to imagine they'll ever be ready to eat.

The bell peppers are doing well too, but it might be another week or two before we get anything big enough to harvest.

Anaheim peppers.  I picked one today along with some green onions to make salsa

If the jalapenos aren't hot enough, I have these Hungarian hot wax peppers to try.  They're supposed to have a Scoville rating about the same as jalapenos.

So, all in all, I can't complain about the garden this year.  I think fertilizing has made all the difference.