Cry Havoc, and hatch the Bugs of War!

Given the amount of Aphids that I have sucking the juices from my plants this year, seeing the above roaming among my tomatoes, potatoes and squash quite the welcome sight. I have probably killed 1000 aphids this week. I admit I have used some insecticidal soap. However, I did not apply this spray generally all over the plants. I only sprayed the undersides of leaves that were infested with the aphids. I have noticed a few ladybugs, and more importantly their larva, so the spraying is over. I will rub out any large colonies of aphids I see, and let the other bugs do the rest.

So far, green tomatoes on all the plants, a few peppers, blooming potatoes and the rest is still in vegetative form. You can see the white casts left be the aphids in this photo, at least I think that is what they are.

Arkansas Travelers:

It's outta my hands...

I bet you think that I am done with this blog and the garden. Quite the opposite now that I have completed this past semester and am down to one more. I have been busy, working in the garden, just not busy making posts. How about a catch up slide show?!? As the individual plants grow, I will put more on about them. The photo above is of my Winter Squash vines, perhaps the most exciting thing I am growing this year. There is something appealing about the idea of growing these fruits all summer, and having them all winter to nibble on. On to the rest:

Carrot greens and some overly crowded turnips. These are some more of those grow and store veggies that I am digging growing now. Unfortunately my garden isn't really geared to grow these kids en mass, but it is a good testing ground for the big move in the future. I learn things, like, over crowed turnips grow all over each other, and their greens are about three times as large as I thought they would be. Not a disappointment, just a surprise.

The boxes are still pretty nice looking despite the piles of rocks. I'm working on it.

The tomatoes are looking especially promising so far. They all have blooms and are large, lush and deep green. This year I am growing half as many plants as last year, but a few things are different. For example, I am not over crowding them, they each have a 2x2 square or more to live in a grow. That is a little closer really than I would like, but double the space I had them in last year. I am companion planting shallots in the beds along with them as well, in hopes that once they get large and pungent they might ward off a bug or two. Also, I have cages! Thanks to a horse farmer who had a little extra wire laying around, I have the plants fully supported. All I need to do is put some posts up for the cages. A quick trip to the hardware store and about 30 minutes is all I will need for that. The best thing about these cages is I can use them forever, over and over again.

There are plenty of flaws remaining. The onions are still small, but growing. The dwarf bok choy bolts after about a week of life after the first true leaves set, making it a rather quick spoiler, my rock path is about 25% laid, making it the destroyer of ankles, and there are some bugs... worms, beetles, aphids, etc. Still, if the weather holds and summer is normal, all should be well. Just look at those potato vines! I don't know what I am going to do with them, talk about over crowding. It just goes to show you what good dirt will do. Last year my taters were about half as tall when they wilted. I will grow them in rows next year.

In the begining...

I hope the worm has turned for the weather. It is soggy, and green. Perfect spring weather here in the Mid-South. All the trees and shrubberies are a bloom or budding. The cold season grass is getting lush and full, and the frogs and bugs are waking up from their naps.

Nice enough, but all this is just a pleasant backdrop to the garden. So far the following has been planted:
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, turnips, dwarf bok choy, lettuce, carrots, onions(which are doing very poorly) and potatoes. The taters haven't sprouted up yet, but they shouldn't for a couple weeks yet. The rest is rolling along nicely, the cole crops are especially hardy. As you can see by both these photos, I spilled bok choy seeds in my letture, and lettuce seeds in my yard. Let it grow baby. Still it will be weeks before any real harvest is acquired. The tomatoes are still inside near a South facing window. I should be able to put them out this next week during the day to continue growing. I will post pictures once they've been potted up.

I should have everything to make a stir fry dish like this one grown in my own garden by this time next month. That feels pretty good. I hope it tastes the same. Ok, the bean sprouts were purchased at the local Asian market. The owner's mother grows them fresh, so I'll leave them to her.

There is a season

They are calling for snow. That means two things. #1, I have nothing much going on in the garden, a wee bit more planning and day dreaming maybe. #2, Every gallon of milk and pack of double A batteries in five states are sold out. Southerners tend to get a little dramatic when the weather man calls for more than a 'chance of flurries'. I typically ignore the forecast since they are wrong more times than they are right and tonight is no exception. It's going to freeze and be miserable, but I doubt the snow will do much more than look pretty in the streetlights.

So, what better to talk about than hot food? I am talking about quesadillas. These are not the run of the mill kind you get at the Tex-Mexican joint. I used corn tortillas instead of flour. That's a whole nother animal. If you cooked these in similar fashion to the flour ones, which take much less time, you would end up with burnt, chewy and cheesy, not crunchy, cheesy and delicious. I sound like a commercial.

These lads take to slow cooking. There is lots of moisture in the tortillas that has to slowly be drawn out, unless you deep fry them of course. Corn tortillas are floppy, and even when wet-heat is applied they soften but stay rather chewy. They might be more authentic that way, but I don't much care for it. I also have to take in consideration, diet. So instead of frying these bad boys, causing them to achieve maximum potential, I use just a few drops of olive oil to prevent sticking and encourage browning.

Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas

Protein: Your choice, I used lean ground beef spiced with items out of the pantry, such as cumin, a few chili powers, and other typical flavors.

White shredded cheese

Olive oil

Salt

Iron Skillet (Accept no substitutes)

Place the iron skillet on medium heat, sprinkle a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil in. Slap a tortilla in and spin it a few times to distribute salt and oil. Add some cheese, a little meat, not too much, the cheese is the key player here. Now comes in any additions for taste. My wife would say to leave out the meat and just have a plain cheese, I add pickled jalapeno pepper slices. Another layer of cheese, and the other tortilla. One brush stroke of oil and a sprinkle of salt on this side and that is all. There is a rhythm to fall into in assembly, but the key here is patience.

These corn tortillas can take more heat longer than the flour ones, and to achieve proper texture, they need a nice slow roll in the skillet. Let the cheese melt so that when you flip it things don't fly apart, and then let each side go for at least 5 minutes or until crunchy. Serve with a wedge of lime and some sour cream sprinkled with various chili powders and cilantro. Oh and a cold beer.

It always warms my toes.