Spring time in Georgia - What Spring?

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I know I sound like a broken record complaining about how hot it has been but this has been awful.  We are still three weeks away from the official start of summer and the heat just keeps on coming.  It is getting so dry now that most everything is crispy brown.  Praying for some relief to this heat wave.

Casualties of War

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Today I salute all of our brave men and women who sacrifice so much for our great nation.  I feel truly blessed to live in the United States, and although we have our issues, this IS the greatest country in the world.  Thank you to all of our soldiers and everything you do.

Now I salute a garden solider, one who battles day and night against a fierce enemy.  I honor all my zucchini soldiers who have fought the attack against the dreaded squash vine borer.  One of those brave green soldiers has been lost in battle.  I salute you for all the delicious fruit you gave me and against all odds......BUT

In true American spirit, I have 4 outstanding recruits ready to pick up where you left off.  They are ready to do battle and resist the enemy.  May they succeed where you left off.

Healthy Zucchini Soldiers

Fallen Zucchini Soldier

 

One of the four new recruits I have planted.

2011 Garden - May 29th

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I have been so busy in the garden, and it seems like I can barely keep up with everything.  The Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas in particular are a real time spender.  I have to pick them every night or else they get way too big.  I have been harvesting squash and lots of zucchini too.  The lettuce is fully formed and I have about 8 heads that are ready to be harvested.  So that means only a few more weeks of fresh garden lettuce.  The corn looks great and it is loaded with ears.  I hit it with a little 13-13-13 and extra water today.  I bought some liquid Sevin insecticide and sprayed my squash and zucchini plants.

As for new plantings, I have planted a full 4X8 bed of pink eye purple hull field peas.  I also planted a 4X4 bed of Jalapeno peppers, and a 4X4 bed of eggplant.  I planted 4 squares of Silver Queen corn, but I think my zucchini may be taking too much from that bed to also grow corn out of it.  I finished off what was left of the maple tree up on the hill and I think I will plant some more stuff up there.

As for the weather, it is just crazy hot and no rain.  I know I live in Georgia, but this has been August weather that we have had in May.  I hope it is not a sign of a super hot summer.  I thought last summer was the hottest I can remember.

Garden Overall

Peaches and Cream Corn is really growing now that the maple tree is gone.

Lettuce is only gonna last a few more days in this heat

Pink Eye Purple Hull Peas are one of my favorites

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas, they have struggled too in this heat.

My First Zucchini Bread

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The zucchini has been really producing and I have been looking for recipes to come up with different ways to eat it. I pretty much only stir fry it and that is great, but I want to expand my culinary skills in the process. So I found a zucchini bread recipe at allrecipes.com that got excellent reviews. I made it last night and for my first time ever trying something like this, it was awesome. The only modification I made to the recipe was adding 3/4 cup of chocolate chips for my daughter.  She still didn't like it, but it was so good I ate some again for breakfast this morning.

Tonight I am smoking a chicken, and I found a recipe for zucchini fries. Hopefully those will come out as good as this did. Time to get to work in the yard.

Fresh out of the oven

Cooling on the counter

Sliced and ready to go

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Rain is a good thing?

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One of my daughter's favorite songs to sing along to is Luke Bryan's "Rain is a Good Thing".  The first line of the chorus goes "Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby......".

Now this spring has been weird.  It has rained three times in two months, and two of those times it rained maybe 15 minutes.  Couple that with temperatures constantly in the 90's and my water bill is obviously going to be high.  The problem is every time it does rain the wind blows 40 to 50 mph gusts at my house.  The end result is my beautiful 7 foot corn plants are blown over again.  This time not to the ground, but still blown over.  I know people say it will right itself, but I just can't help straightening it when it happens.

So I say Luke Bryan got it wrong, rain doesn't make corn, the line should be:  Rain makes corn blow right over...at least it seems to be that way for me this spring.

Gardeners Christmas

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One of the fun things about being a gardener to me is getting to buy little gadgets and gizmos to make gardening and harvesting easier.  Since I am new to the gardening game, I am slowly building my collection.  I have gotten 3 new items this week that I hope work well for me.

The following were purchased from amazon.com

Corn Brush - This is a corn/vegetable brush I bought for desilking corn cobs and cleaning things like carrots.

Corn Cob Cutter - This is a corn cob cutter that I can't wait to use in a few more weeks.  I will give a full review after using it.

Food Scale - This is a food scale to keep up with pounds harvested during the growing season.  Watching Granny's and Daphne's Monday harvest posts gave me the idea to do this.  I have built a simple spreadsheet and I hope I am disciplined enough to keep it updated.  I used the scale tonight and it works well, I like that I can automatically zero out the weight of the bowl that I am weighing stuff in.  I hope to have my harvest totals on my site soon.

Squash Bug War

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I noticed the last few times that I have been watering my zucchini there are these bugs that run from the water and go high up on the leaves.  Since I am not well versed on recognizing different pests, I went on the Internet to research.  Looks like I have a squash bug infestation.  I had a little bit of Sevin dust left so I gave the plants a liberal coating.  According to my research these bugs are really difficult to kill and get rid of.

There are two methods that I am going to try next if the Sevin doesn't work.  The first involves laying something flat around the zucchini plant stems and the bugs will collect on the bottom.  Then you can easily remove the board and destroy the little rascals.  The other method involves spraying the plant with water, and when the bugs run to high ground spray them with soapy water.  I have heard they are virtually impossible to contain completely.  Let the war begin.

Here is a sample picture of what they look like