The Plan

They are not waiting for soup, but I am. I was looking for a recipe, anything really, that would use more yellow squash and zucchini. We only planted small varieties, but they still way out produced what we can comfortable consume and give away. People start running the other way when they see me coming with more of these prolific produce.

Soup is easy and can be frozen. This recipe was found here, but I simplified it further – omitting the final milky ingredients (it’s creamy enough). If you follow the link, the author suggests 6 medium zucchs are needed to equal 3 cups of chopped 1 inch cubes. I’m not sure what she might think a medium zucch measures, but it’s way smaller than anything I have around here. I guess I should be picking them earlier, but then I would have even more.

Here’s what I did: 1/4 cup butter to saute 1 medium onion (chopped) and 1 clove of garlic (chopped). Once the onion is looking translucent, add 3 cups of chopped (mine were chopped way smaller than 1 inch) zucchini. I actually used yellow patty-pan squash as it is most plentiful right now. Pour in 1/2 cup of veggie broth or whatever kind you prefer and simmer until the zucchini are soft. Let that cool a bit, puree and reheat to eat, or cool further and freeze.

I think I might try adding some sage and reducing the butter for the next batches tomorrow.

Several weeks ago, we noticed a growing army of aphids on the peppers and artichokes. I wasn’t looking forward to the soapy spray we applied last year for control. It was messy — soapy aphid bodies clinging to my hands. It was uncomfortable — bending over to spray the underside of leaves. It was ineffective — there were just as many aphids the next day. I wanted something different and natural pest control is something we always talked about and had yet to try. Ladybugs are the natural enemy of aphids.

It took a little looking before I found a company that didn’t charge more for shipping the little bugs than the bugs themselves. Some seriously outrageous vendors out there. Be careful.  I ordered from Orcon (www.organiccontrol.com) and the bugs arrived in a few days nicely packaged.

We ordered the 4,500 bug bag. Seemed about right for our infested area. And that night (as ladybugs must be released after dark so they do not fly away) we released the first wave.

Several days later we released the second wave. I haven’t had to spray the aphids once and we are still seeing the beneficial bugs crawling our garden. Next year I would like to order some praying mantis.

I have waited almost 2 years for these blooms if you count all the time I spent lusting over photos of them. Angelica gigas is a biennial, which means that it blooms in its 2nd year. I wintersowed the seeds in January ‘08 and got good germination. Last summer I was hoping that Angie would behave like some hollyhocks, which are also biennials but sometimes bloom late in their 1st year. No such luck. But I think she’s worth the wait. Every day her umbels become a little more rounded. And the color is fantastic. I plan to sow the seeds as soon as they are ripe. With any luck I can get some new ones established so that they’ll bloom next year rather than in 2 years.