AAHH!!!

PESTS!!

Another summer and another zucchini crop cut short!

Without fail, every summer my squash crop gets blitzkrieged by squash vine borers.

An adult squash vine borer

What they do to your squash!

 I can't stand the nasty buggers!! The plants grew amazingly well as usual then, started producing fruit. And then, about a week later, the plant starts wilting and the fruit that is already set starts rotting on the plant. 

NNOOOO!!!!

This year I decided to pull the pull the infected plants and plant a new mid summer crop.

To avoid the same problem, I planted the new crop in some old tires. I filled the tires with a topsoil, manure, and compost mix. 

This tire has some tomato suckers and basil.

This one has yellow summer squash

this tire contains ZUCCHINI !!

Wish me luck!

I'll let you know how this second crop goes (grows).

Au revoir, mes amis.

SUMMER YUM!!

Summer skillet

This 4th of July saw me grilling steak, potatoes, onions, garden grown zucchini and peppers.

It was AWESOME!!

But, what may have been even better was the next days supper.

First, make sure you grill more onion and potato than you're gonna eat. Pull the leftovers from the 'fridge, unwrap and dice.

Straight from the vine :) !

CHOP CHOP CHOP

Hot banana peppers from le jardin

After every things chopped and prepped, add your fat of choice to the frying pan ( I use a blob of butter and olive oil).

Add the potatoes first as they will take some time to brown. Once you start seeing color on all sides of the spuds, dump all your other ingredients to the skillet.

Fry until everything is heated through. 

As it's all been cooked already it doesn't take much time.

I like to serve alongside eggs cooked over easy.

Nothing quite as delicious as egg yoke and summer skillet all mixed up on yo' plate!!

 Bon appétit, mes amis!

Sorry.

Been a while...

Sorry, It's been some time since my last post. Life has a tendency to get in the the way of plans and intentions. C'est la vie!

Speaking of life etc.,the dutch bucket tomato system is doing remarkably well. I had a slight setback about a week and a half ago. While trimming the backyard hedge, I apparently discovered some poison ivy. The problem moved from local to system wide. What started out as a rash and blisters soon became a guessing game as to where it was going to pop up next. Everywhere was the answer to that question! YUCK! Annoying as can be. Heat and moisture seemed to make the problem worse. Heat and moisture IS the southern United States! So, I didn't go outside after work at all for at least a week.( I also finally went and received treatment a week later. )While hiding indoors, I had forgotten about my poor tomatoes. I turned out to be a week late in changing out my nutrients. And the temperatures being in the upper 90s ( Fahrenheit) for the last several weeks, and evaporation being what it is, my reservoir tank was basically empty!!

Poor tomatoes.I just about killed 'em.

They're finally on the mend now though.

Taller than ever , lush and green foliage, full of fruits.

The" sweet million" tomatoes are bursting with fruit!

My first ripe "German Johnson"

Already had a couple of "Lemon Boy" 'maters. YUM!!

All in all, this has been an excellent way to grow tomatoes. I'm definitely doing this again.

Super easy once you have the initial set up built.

Thanks for checking in! 

Au revoir, mes amis!