The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

October 26, 2012

Autumn Aphid Attack

Filed under: Insects,Vegetables — bob @ 2:16 pm

Our killing frost finished off the rest of the vegetable plants in my garden. The only ones left were the cold-tolerant  types like Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips and a few others.  I thought that I could coast along until it was time to harvest those crops later next month.

Earlier this week, I went out to the garden to check my Brussels sprouts. I was surprised to find the sprouts covered with aphids and the leaves infested with active cabbage worms. Apparently, our warm Indian summer stimulated a population explosion of insects.

I put away the sprayer for the season a couple of weeks ago. So, I dragged it back out and filled it with a solution of Pyola insecticide. This is a very safe and effective spray for most garden insects. It is basically canola oil combined with a small amount of pyrethrum and is approved for use in organic gardens.

After thoroughly drenching my Brussels sprouts, I triple-rinsed the sprayer, dried it out and put it back into storage. Hopefully, that will be the last time it will see the light of day until next spring.

A spray of organic insecticide will take care of the insects on these Brussels sprouts.

October 5, 2012

For Storage, Leave Stems On Winter Squash

Filed under: Storage and Preservation,Vegetables — bob @ 12:07 pm

We had a pretty decent Butternut squash yield this year. I planted them in a new part of the garden, which I’m sure helped boost the yield. Plus, we had very few insects on the squash. As a result, we now have plenty of Butternut that will go into storage straight from the garden – unprocessed.

If you keep winter squash under the proper conditions, you can enjoy them well into winter. The most important thing to keep in mind is to leave the stem on the squash. This is true of all varieties of winter squash and pumpkins.

Winter squash store best with the stems left on.

If you plan to use them in the next week or two, then it really doesn’t matter if the squash has a stem or not.

Sometimes you can find farmers selling stemless winter squash at a deep discount. Other than cooking them for a meal, you can freeze or can those bargain farmer’s market squash to use later on.

If the stems are breaking off  your squash as you pick them, use your pruning shear to cut the stems from the vine. You’ll find it’s worth the extra effort.

Store your best, unblemished squash  in a spot that will stay around 50F and have about 50 percent humidity. You should be able to enjoy your home-grown squash into early 2013.

Bob

September 7, 2012

Tomatoes

Filed under: Storage and Preservation,Vegetables — bob @ 2:22 pm

My big job in the garden this week is picking and canning tomatoes.

The tomato crop is a little light this year because of the drought and hot temperatures this summer.

I’ve noticed in my garden that most of the tomatoes seem to have ripened all at once. This is a good thing for canning.

Last week about a quarter of the crop ripened and I was able to can a batch of tomatoes — about seven quarts. This week there is at least four times that many.

Since tomatoes are among the easiest garden crop to can so, they are a good choice to start out with if you never canned anything before.

The best way to store tomatoes is to can them.

People ask me why I can vegetables instead of freezing them since freezing is so much easier. I have my reasons. First, I don’t have enough room in the freezer to hold everything I want to store. Another reason involves security. If the power goes out for a few days in a row, I can lose my entire harvest. That has happened to me more than once through the years. You don’t need electricity to keep canned vegetables.

Last but not least, I get a feeling of security looking at shelf rows of canned vegetables down in our Michigan basement.

Bob

August 10, 2012

Sometimes You Have to Grown Your Own

Filed under: Vegetables — bob @ 6:53 am

One big advantage to having your own vegetable garden is being able to pick what ever varieties you want to grow.

For example, in my garden I always  grow at least one ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato’ plant.  This plant produces dozens of tiny tomatoes that  are about the size of a blueberry. These little, red pearls  are not overly sweet but have an intense tomato flavor.

You won’t normally find these in a farmer’s market.  Since they are so small, it takes a lot of  tomatoes to make a quart — or even a pint for that matter. So, not many market growers want to fuss with them.  That leaves it up to you to grow your own.

Matt's Wild Cherry tomato.

There are other vegetables that fall into this category — baby corn is another one that comes to mind.

Sometimes, if you want something special, you just have to grow it yourself.

Bob

July 13, 2012

Watch Out for Cucumber Beetles

Filed under: Insects,Vegetables — bob @ 3:16 pm

Striped cucumber beetles are public enemy number one when it comes to growing cucumbers.

They are a very colorful and attractive looking beetle with their shiny yellow stripes but they can destroy your entire cucumber crop if you don’t take steps right away to control them.

I’ve already sprayed for them twice this season however, a new population of beetles is starting to show up again.

Cucumber beetles are chewing insects that make holes in the leaves, blossoms and fruit of the plant. They can eat so much of the plant that they can drastically reduce the number of cucumbers the vines are able to produce — and that is bad enough.  Worse yet, they spread diseases like bacterial wilt and mosaic virus which can outright kill the plants.

They attack zucchini, winter squash, acorn squash and other vine crops. So, to be on the safe side,  check all of your vine crops.

There is also a spotted cucumber beetle species that causes the same problems. They look like the striped variety but have spots instead.

Most garden insecticides do a good job killing these pests.

Bob

The University of Connecticut has a good discussion of cucumber beetles on this website.  http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/cukbtltcrop.htm

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