Re: N&C Midwest July 2022

nrstooge 7/20/2022, 7:11 pm

Picked 2 more lemon drop squash and a patty pan (green bennings) tonight. 2 Zucchini will be ready tomorrow at the community garden. The season is on! I've also started to pick cherry tomatoes on the patio.

OhioGardener 7/21/2022, 6:18 pm

Picked more green beans and peppers today, to add to the Zucchini squash and cherry tomatoes. The garden is in heavy production right now.

JAM23 7/22/2022, 12:02 pm

Sooooo....can anyone help me identify this bug that is all over my cucumber plant? There are alot of them concentrated in one area and they were also all hanging out the side of the raised bed. At first I though aphids, but could they be fungus gnats? I don't see any real damage to the plant itself.

Thanks!

OhioGardener 7/22/2022, 1:14 pm

JAM23 wrote:Sooooo....can anyone help me identify this bug that is all over my cucumber plant? There are alot of them concentrated in one area and they were also all hanging out the side of the raised bed. At first I though aphids, but could they be fungus gnats? I don't see any real damage to the plant itself.

Those look like the Minute Pirate Bugs. Not certain, but they look the same from here. We are having an invasion of them. The good thing is that they are beneficial, the bad thing is that they are a pest to humans. See a post I made recently about them:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t23678-invasion-of-beneficial-bugs-pests-minute-pirate-bug#304870

**sanderson** 7/23/2022, 2:23 am

I modified the title of the referenced thread, so I replaced the link in this thread with the modified link.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/24/2022, 11:55 am

I have never heard of those bugs, OG! Does DEET repel them? I hope so….

Well, I went to my local nursery, and needed bird feed. Ended up with a 4 pack of give-away Yellow Pear tomatoes (laying down and seriously root bound—but free). Gave 2 to a friend that I ran into there. Also got a $1 jalapeño plant with 3 red ripe peppers on it—also root bound and yellowing. And a shade replacement flower because my squirrels ate it.

To make room for the tomatoes, I went to pull a lump of crabgrass from the cold frame and about 5 red onions came with it—it was a BIG clump. Everything planted after amending squares, and watered in. Onions curing in the garage as we speak. N&C Midwest July 2022 - Page 3 3170584802

N&C Midwest July 2022 - Page 3 3170584802

OhioGardener 7/24/2022, 1:07 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:I have never heard of those bugs, OG! Does DEET repel them? I hope so….

According to the Extension Office, nothing repels them since they aren't in search of a human being to begin with. They said that Baby Oil tangles them up when they land so that they can't pierce the skin, but that oil would leave a pretty big mess.

JAM23 7/25/2022, 10:09 am

Weird, these bugs (whatever they were) were there for a day or two and now they seem to be gone. I will keep an eye out to see if they return.

We were lucky this weekend and received 1.25" of rain! Harvested quite a bit of peppers and a few other things from the garden yesterday. My daughter made us stuffed jalapeno poppers. They were so good! I'm going to try and pickle these sweet banana peppers today.

OhioGardener 7/25/2022, 6:24 pm

Put 10 quarts of green beans in the freezer. They are going to taste mighty good when the snow flies! Very Happy

JAM23 7/25/2022, 6:38 pm

Wow! That's amazing!!! I would never be able to grow that many green beans with my current space!

Maybe someday in my "dream garden"; but not now. Green beans from your own garden are soooo good!

OhioGardener 7/25/2022, 7:35 pm

Picked the first Golden Jubilee tomato this evening. The tomato season has begun!
N&C Midwest July 2022 - Page 3 3170584802

nrstooge 7/25/2022, 7:51 pm

Today's harvest - 4 green bennings patty pan, 2 zucchini and 3 Lemon Drop summer squash. Gave a few away. Time to get the dehydrator out.

JAM23 7/26/2022, 8:30 am

Nice nrstooge! I have not been able to pick one squash yet! I think I planted on the late side, so hopefully soon!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/26/2022, 12:27 pm

I just checked my zucchini plant and it seems the squirrels are eating the flowers and baby zukes! Not touching the Sunburst yellow patty pan right next to it? I see another zucchini in my future!

OhioGardener 7/27/2022, 10:59 am

Not much gardening today since we are in the second day of solid rain. I had planned on starting the build of the new 3-bay compost bin, but that will have to wait. Though I did manage to go out to get enough Comfrey leaves cut to start a new batch of Comfrey Tea fertilizer. I turned on the rain delay on the drip irrigation system, since the beds won't need watering for a while with the over 2" of rain we have received.

OhioGardener 7/28/2022, 7:52 pm

The black tomatoes are starting to ripen. These are Black Beauty Tomatoes. Have never grown them before, and have no idea how to tell when they are ripe and ready to pick.

JAM23 7/29/2022, 4:09 pm

Those look amazing! I just love the color!

OhioGardener 7/29/2022, 7:21 pm

Picked another batch of green beans this evening. Most of these will be blanched and put in the freezer.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/30/2022, 5:39 pm

OG, those Black Beauty tomatoes are gorgeous! And all those beans—good eating!

I just spent all day basically learning how to use my dehydrator that my kids got me for Christmas last year. I had a bunch of garlic that needed to be dealt with—so I am dehydrating it after deliberately hulling it and it took forever…but honestly, garlic is expensive…so we will see. It is in the garage—someone on Pinterest said “you don’t want this in your house”. Based upon my fingers—that person was right!

Also made pesto with about 4c of basil. Frozen

Tried a double chocolate zucchini bread—took forever, will never add chocolate chips again. Too wet/moist. Will double the cocoa. It is tasty, just broke in half…not usually what happens?

A day of domestic stuff!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/31/2022, 7:21 pm

Dug Yukon Gold potatoes today. Also Candy onions. Will amend that bed, 48 inch fire ring for carrots, beets, and a zucchini.

Dehydrated garlic turned out great! Gonna order a mortar and pestle so I can have finer granulated garlic if the recipe calls for that!

Had my first dinner with a (whoops) stabbed Yukon gold, dragon Tongue beans, and a purple onion! A little garlic, turkey kielbasa, it was amazing!

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