Identifying Home Garden Pests

I was standing in our front yard talking to my friend.  She looked across my tomato plants and said, "Oh it looks like you've got something eating these."  Exactly as she was saying so I gasped loudly, "Oh my goodness!  It's huge!"

It was a giant tomato hornworm (See his little horn tail in back?) And he and his little buddy had been having quite the feast in my front yard tomato and pepper patch.  

 Leaving behind poor plants stripped entirely of leaves, and little half-eaten tomatoes

We found the trixy pair and fed them to the chickens.  Chickens love bugs.  If you pay extra at the store for "free range" chicken eggs and the package also says vegetarian-fed, you can know that the eggs must not really be that free-range at all, because chickens--like humans--are omnivores.  

We've also got some neighborhood bunnies.  This one likes to hang out under the beehive and go hopping away when I check on the bees.  The bunnies haven't given us too much trouble with our garden this year.  It's a good thing too, because I think Jeremy is just waiting for any excuse to make a pot of wild rabbit stew. 

Full Circle on the City Farm

It's amazing to see that our peas on St. Patrick's Day grew from teeny little sprouts,

Into towering plants,

Exploded in blossoms out the top,

Fell over under their own weight,

Provided us with a few days of snacking plus substantial finale harvest,

And have now been pulled from the garden and piled in the compost heap.  It's the circle of life.  It's life and death. Life and death are all around us and it's good for our children to recognize it.  We honor and respect the deaths that sustain our lives. 

Building Community

Every year we've planted a garden we've tried to start our own plants from seeds, and every year that process has been an almost complete flop. 

Since our germination experiments have all  failed, we bought a lot of plant starts this year from a local market. It's not the most inexpensive place to buy plants in town, but we felt good about supporting a local business, and I realized that by going to this market we were supporting the local business model twofold, because many of the starts they sell are grown right here in Kansas.

As I was planting I contemplated, the idea of independence versus interdependence. One reason why we garden is for a greater sense of independence. A feeling that we don't have to be dependent for our basic needs on large corporations with centers of production far far away from us. There's lots situations where this food distribution model could be a problem. Bad weather, social/political unrest, or fuel prices and availability could all interfere with our ability to receive basic commodities from far away sources. So, we should just provide it all ourselves--right?

Working in my small garden I thought about how at least right now (while the greenhouse of my dreams exists only in my dreams) I'm really just not set up to grow plants from seeds, so I am happy that someone else who is better equipped to do so can provide that for me. I've realized many times along our path to greater self-reliance that it will be impossible for us to ever provide absolutely everything for ourselves, and complete isolation is not what we want, either.

As we work to provide for many of our own needs we are working to get away from a dependance on large businesses and nonsensical models of commodities distribution.  What we would like to participate in is an interdependent relationship with smaller, local businesses.  We need them to provide us with things that we are unable to--yet they also need us and so we are treated with respect and even friendship.  As I worked in the garden I thought that "interdependence" still seemed like too institutional a word for the relationship I was imagining.

A better word is community.  People working together for a joint cause--the cause being the health of the community, or the community's members.  People working hard to provide the things they can, getting help where their abilities fall short, and always supporting those around them.  In a small way, I hope that buying Kansas seedlings from the local market when my own growing attempts have failed, will help to build that community.

Herb Garden Recipes: Dill and Sage

A month ago we planted herbs in a pot on the front porch.  They've filled out so much that it was time to start cooking with them.   Our front porch kitchen garden pot includes rosemary dill and sage.  It's visually interesting to plant herbs with different textures next to each other--these three fit the bill.

Dill is an herb I had to reintroduce myself to when I became an adult.  I remember not particularly liking it (more specifically: what was made with it--probably more specifically: potato salad).  I'm happy to have a number of recipes now in which I really like the dill.  The first is what I like to call:

Cool and Creamy Cucumber Salad

2 cucumbers
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Peel cucumbers (at least partially--I usually just peel a few strips off leaving it with circus stripes of green--then you get some added fiber an nutrients from the peel but it's not too scratchy in the mouth) slice thin and set aside.  Stir all remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Add the cucumbers and stir until the cucumbers are completely covered.  Serve cold immediately or after an hour or two in the fridge. 

We really enjoy this cool summer salad.  I didn't take a picture of the cucumber salad before we ate it--but since I only had one cucumber we had leftover dressing.  We used it to dip fresh vegetables in and it was delicious.

When I served the cucumber salad.  Owen asked me, "Mom, is there grass in this?"  I told him "No, it's fresh dill from our herb garden."  To which he replied, "OK," and then proceeded to eat his salad.

Another thing we had this week for dinner was Pasta with Walnuts Butter and Sage:

The recipe for this was in my January recipe newsletter, for "nut season".  Its a very light sauce and the sage and lemon juice give it a very fresh taste. 

These two recipes have been favorites for a few years.  Hopefully this summer we can find some new favorites as well as our herb garden continues to produce.

Cultivating

Our early spring peas are growing well.

It's been reasonably cool and has included a few rainy days--The peas love it.

I can't wait for the peas.  Last year we only had about a dozen plants.  The boys loved eating the peas and pods straight from the vines but we almost had to ration them out to let everyone have some each time.  This year we hope to have less rationing necessary.

Next to the peas I planted two varieties of carrots.  We're still waiting for those to come up (I really hope they do).

I have a cabbage and broccoli plant that actually wintered over in the hoop house.  I planted them late (too late) in the fall.  The plants were really small and I kept them covered in plastic and in the spring they started growing again.  So hopefully there will be something to harvest soon.

Our onions are just starting to come up.  I walked by our neighbors the other day who had a whole plot of 6-inch high onion shoots and was worried--we seemed way behind. But ours have started shooting up this week and they really grow quickly once they break ground--so I'd guess we're only a week behind our neighbors.  Last year our onions were not a successful crop.  We're off to a better start since we didn't even get them in the ground last year until after the baby was born. 

This is simply how gardening has gone for us.  Every year we've had failures and successes.  Every year we've learned more about how we'll do it better "next time".

We literally are cultivating the skills in our lives in order to live in a more self reliant manner.  Self-reliance isn't something you can just buy--like a 72-hour kit.  A big part of self reliance is developing the skills necessary for providing for your own needs.  This takes time and effort.  I cook well not because it was a skill that I was born with, but because it is a skill that felt was important so I have devoted time and effort into learning it. (Most of that being during the last seven years since I have been married.) 

As I have learned basic skills that appealed to me I have found that more areas of self-reliance start to look interesting--the more I'm interested in seeing if I can provide for that need myself instead of depending on someone else to supply it.  I may not choose to always do so, but that can be my choice. 

I want my children to have that choice as well--to have the independence that comes from being able to do many productive things for themselves.  I don't know if our boys will ever need to know how to spin wool into yarn, but they do need to know how to feed their own bodies.  We invite the boys into the garden with us and particularly into the kitchen--teaching them principles and cultivating within them important skills, as well as cultivating within them the desire to provide for themselves.

Peas on St. Patrick's Day

We learned from some "native locals" that the gardening season begins here with Peas on St' Patrick's Day. That's a bit earlier than what we usually do it because it seems like the weather always gets really nice and "springy" just long enough to raise your hopes of getting outside and then it starts freezing again so we go back to huddling inside. Nevertheless we decided to go ahead and follow the advice and get some pea seeds in the ground last weekend.

That meant it was also time to get started indoors as well with some seedlings to plant when the weather get's warmer.

We found Owen this gardening kit in the clearance at the craft store.

Sometimes it's nice to have everything all set and ready to go--esspecially when kids are involved.

Owen worked hard on his planting well into the evening.

And by bedtime there were a dozen little pots in cozy mini-greenhouse bags all ready to sprout. 

After getting the boys in bed Jeremy chanced a look out the windows--Yep, just what we expected.

But our peas will be fine they haven't sprouted yet, and we also have them under the hoop house anyways with some cabbage, and soon to be joined by carrots and maybe onions.  We also got some red seed potatoes to put in the ground.

The snow hardly lasted the night--Gardening season has officially begun!

Ripening

Down in the basement:

So far so good. 

Tomatoes

We had a stealth garden of tomatoes growing in the back-yard this summer.    I planted the bushes from seed--in May.

I know--it was a double "Haha you'll never see those thing produce before frost hits."

But a lot of what we do as amateur gardeners is simply an experiment.  Just to watch plants an their growing habits and their preferences.  Just to watch and add bit by bit to our "gardener's sense" (if not to our kitchen table).

Well, our front yard garden grew really well this year.  The plot was well-suited for a garden.  Our tomato starts grew big and bushy ans started putting on fruit.  Then the second week of September.  Kansas weather hit.  A huge windstorm toppled the tomato cages and sent a covering of green tomatoes all over the front walkway.  W brought those tomatoes inside, allowed them to ripen an enjoyed them, but the plants never bounced back enough to produce much more fruit.  

But since I had planted the backyard tomatoes so late--they were just barely starting to fill out and escaped the storm mostly-unscathed.  And then they shot up.

 We were excited by early October to see the plants filling up with small green roma tomatoes.

 By late October the plants were heavy with large fruits and just waiting to turn red.  Jonas started picking them off and eating them one-by one at the slightest hint of orangy-pink.  "Yes baby--I know they are delicious, but they might be even more delicious if we let them ripen completely!"

We had a few with dinner the other night which also included pesto pasta made with fresh basil from out front.

The last week or so the plants have started going downhill--we've been covering them with a sheet of plastic overnight to protect them, but there's only so much cold they can take. 

So last night I did as the Progressive Pioneer suggested and cut the stems and brought them indoors.  I hung them in the basement (a garage is also a good idea) and left them to ripen.

And just in time.  As of this morning the yard is dead.  All the ornamentals and remaining plants have black shriveled leaves.  Including the two last basil plants that I had not yet converted to freezer-pesto.  *sigh*

Oh well in another week or so I should have a fresh crop of ripe red romas to enjoy, and see--this time the experiment paid off!

Basil Harvesting and Recipe

I like knowing the "right" way to do things. I don't always actually do things the right way, but then at least I can identify the point and reasoning for my deviance.

This summer I realized I didn't know the "right way" to harvest basil. So I traipsed around the internet until I found a nice "scientific" method that has been working well for me.

I now present How to Harvest Basil (followed by some recipes):

If you notice basil grows in sets of two leaves opposite each other on the branch. Each set has two larger leaves with two smaller leaves coming out above right at the same spot.

Count up three sets of leaves on the stem branch, and cut the stem off right above the third set.

The two little leaf stems will then each grow a new stem.

Here is one I cut before that has grown.

The more you cut the bushier your basil will grow. This gives you more basil as the summer goes on, and keeps it from going to seed which would take energy away from the leaf growth.

Pull the leaves from the stems you cut off to use in your favorite recipe.

Pesto is the classic dish for using up extra basil.

You can use it on bread, pizza, pasta or whatever.

I recently saw this recipe for lemon basil ice cream. I am so trying that!

Last summer we made delicious watermelon-basil lemonade.

I also got this recipe for tomato basil soup from my friend Ashley. It's so delicious!

Tomato Basil Soup Recipe

4 tomatoes peeled,seeded, and diced
4 cups tomato juice
14 leaves fresh basil
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Put tomatos and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves. (Use an immersion blender. Cheap ones are only $20 bucks and I use mine all the time--they are great for smoothies too.)

Over medium heat stir in the cream, do not boil. Season with any salt an pepper desired. (I find that canned tomato juice is usually salty enough.) Serve hot with crusty bread and pesto.

Attack on the Front Lawn

 In our continual search for a plot of land on our property with enough sunlight to support a vegetable garden- we tore out a landscaping shrub from the front yard this spring to replace it with vegetables. 

Jeremy read this book when he was researching for his masters' thesis.  The author suggested that front lawns--though archetypal-ly American--are a waste of space and are well suited to becoming edible landscapes in order to provide food, spread knowledge, and create community.

I don't know about spreading knowledge or building a sense of community, but we were just looking for a planting space that would facilitate our tomatoes growing taller than 18 inches.





We turned a plot 4x5 feet and planted (one per square foot) 4 green peppers, 4 banana peppers, 4 roma tomatoes, 1 yellow pear tomato, 2 basil, 1 cantaloupe and 1 watermelon (with their vines trailing away from the plot) and a few marigolds.  Then we brought over a strawberry barrel to give a little more structure. 

The plants have filled out, are growing well and we're harvesting from them. 

We're lucky to get the produce inside the front door before a little one has already taken a crunchy bite.

How Does Your Garden?

We got a late start on our garden this year. I had the baby as Kansas reached it's annual last frost date. So we definitely didn't get out much those first few weeks of prime gardening season, but we've been trying hard to play catch up since then.

We revamped the chicken coop and run early this spring. We let the chickens roam the whole yard over the winter, but as soon as spring hit they were eating up any green thing that dared pop out of the ground. So, we fenced in a corner of the yard--that way they could have more open space than last year, but the plant life in the rest of the yard could be safe.

They were really mad at us for fencing them in, but they're getting over it.

The back yard is starting to make real progress. We've planted potatoes, peas, two kinds of onions, and beets.
We're starting to see our first successes in our little garden. We gave the first of the peas to the boys. We want to keep them excited about the family garden.

But really, what's not to love about digging in the dirt?

They are boys afterall.