My Nemesis: Squash Bugs

When your squash plants start looking like this:

Chances are you have squash bugs.

Ihave been battling these pests for the past couple of years.

And for the last couple of years,

they have decimated the squash and zucchini plants.

Babies hatching

So, how do you handle a squash bug epidemic?

Short of napalming your garden

(and the other day I considered calling in an airstrike)

you can turn to a couple of possible solutions.

A simple (though back breaking and time consuming) solution

is duct tape.

Wrap the tape sticky side out around your hand

then use it to pull the eggs off the leaves 

and catch the bugs.

I wear gloves while doing this because sometimes I just 

smush the bugs I see.

And I don't really want squashed squash bugs on my hands.

Several bugs and some eggs stuck to the tape

If you just have a couple of plants, 

this can be a fairly effective solution

as long as you stay on top of it.

Or you can go get some Neem Oil

(an organic spray)

and use that too.

I had to resort to that and it has helped,

but populations have exploded so I use tape and spray.

What's For Dinner?

Last night I decided to make something different for dinner.

Spying the ginormous 1foot + zucchini on the counter, 

I opted to try out a baked stuffed zucchini redcipe I spied on Pinterest

(if you don't Pinterest you really should, 

I've used many many many ideas from there from recipes

to wedding ideas to crafting to gardening...)

Unfortunately, because this was spur of the moment, 

I didn't take step by step photos like I normally would.

But because I had so many requests for the recipe, 

I figured I'd blog it without the usual photos.

Fresh out of the oven

Ingredients

Zucchini- I used one giant one,

the original recipe called for 3 small/medium zucchinis

1 medium onion chopped fine (or half, depending on your preference)

2 cloves garlic minced/pressed

2Tbsp sour cream 

1 Roma (paste) tomato seeded and chopped

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp butter

meat of your choice- I wanted to use Italian sausage but had to use ground pork.

Original recipe calls for bacon but really anything could work here.

seasonings- I used Caribbean Jerk seasoning I made myself and salt and pepper

(as with the meat, anything goes here, salt and pepper, thyme, Italian seasonings...)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°

cut your zucchini in half lengthwise

using a spoon, scoop out the insides of the zucchini leaving a small edge around the sides

Place scoopings in a bowl for later.

Cook your meat, drain off the grease

In a skillet, cook onion and garlic in the butter until translucent

 add meat and seasonings to the onions and cook together a couple of minutes

chop up the scooped out zucchini into small pieces

mix sour cream into the chopped up zucchini

add meat and onion mixture and tomatoes to the zucchini

mix well

(I also added some cheese to the mix)

stuff the hollowed out zucchini halves with your mix

top with the grated cheese

bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes

I sprinkled more grated cheese on top after removing it from the oven

Enjoy!

 

This recipe can be altered and changed to suit your personal preferences.

I have plans to use Italian sausage and mozzarella next time for an Italian themed stuffed zucchini.

I also would like to try the bacon. 

Got any ideas? Let me know!

Garden of Weedin

We finally had some time to work in the garden this weekend.

It's no longer the "Garden of Weedin'"

Our corn is growing- sort of.

Some didn't come up at all.

We staggered the plantings-

2 rows, then planted 2 more rows 2 weeks later, etc.

Hoping this allows us to use what we harvest rather than

having 50+ ears to deal with all at once.

The pumpkins are growing like crazy.

Unfortunately, I discovered some squash bugs in the garden.

These things are my nemesis.

They single handedly killed the pumpkins and most of the zucchini and squash last year.
I have a plan though.

Here is one of our 3 potato plants.

I don't recommending deciding to order potatoes

and wanting to make a potato tower 2 weeks before your wedding.

We just planted them in the ground, so I don't have too much hope of potatoes this year.

The beans love the trellis.

I have green beans and black beans growing here.

The cucumbers needed a little help with the trellis.

For the future, I plan to use strips of wood to make more climbing area

for the vines.

The peas are doing well. 

We harvested a bagful.

And I ate several pods.

The zucchini has been producing for a couple of weeks now.

It's delicious.

The squash bugs think so too,

unfortunately.

We pulled beets, zucchini, squash and peas.

This photo doesn't show the huge bucket full

of squash and zucchini.

There was one tomato, but those mother cluckers got to it before I did.

 

Bertha was checking out the produce being offered.

She and Martha Stewart got to the one ripening tomato before I could.

 I have tons of green tomatoes.

I'm thinking of trying to fry some up- something I've never cooked or eaten.

First Haul

Picked these snazzy zucchinis and a couple of Pony Express Paste tomatoes last night.

There's tons more nearly ready for harvesting.

If only we could get a little rain.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I came across a recipe for a chocolate zucchini bread and thought

what the heck

I have more zucchini than I know what to do with.

Since my fiance said it was "DELICIOUS"

and "GREAT"

I figured I'd share it here.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt

set aside

In medium mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs until fluffy

add oil and vanilla

add to dry ingredients along with the zucchini and chocolate chips

stir until combined

divide between 2 loaf pans

bake 50-60 minutes or until top is cracked and springy to touch

I think it could have used a few more chocolate chips, other than that it was pretty good.

Goes down nice with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

Check back for other possible zucchini bread recipes as I plan on trying a zucchini pineapple recipe 

and a lemon poppy seed zucchini bread recipe.