Identify The Enemy

Before the carnage.

Ahh...the mystery.  There were little holes in the potted vegetable plants.

Clue: They were eating little holes in the leaves of all the plants except the tomato. 

My flaky room-mate from years ago, the F-L-A-K-Y one, said something in passing that has stayed with me: most problems are self-created.

I didn't put the bugs to graze on my plants, but I am the one who didn't try to kill them.

Yes, I should have sprayed everything with soap and hot pepper water immediately.  I didn't.  School was starting, I felt under the weather and of coarse: things were going too well so I had to screw them up.

THEN! The little munchers made their fatal mistake...

Here Is THE Potato recipe:

This is so delicious it makes me want to eat potatoes.  

It involves chopping the potatoes which is right up there with chopping stones - another of my least favorite activities.  So I try to make as much as I can when I make it.  I'd like to say it freezes well, but I really don't know because we've never had any left to freeze.

Start by washing the potatoes to your desired cleanliness level.  I have an engineer friend who insists you need to eat some dirt to be healthy.   He's not alone.  People have been eating dirt for centuries.  I've heard it contains good bacteria and some hard-to-get nutrients. A Cornell University researcher hypothesises that eating dirt, especially clay, offsets some bad pathogens and parasites in the  GI.  I've also heard soil can also contain some nasty germs. 

These taters are going to be well-done cooked, so do what you want for washing.  I'm going to scrub mine and cook them.  Then I'll have to take the capsule of probiotics to offset all the sanitizing I did when I washed my hands and cooked the food while drinking pasteurized milk.

Back to the world's tastiest potato recipe...

How NOT To Plant Potatoes!

More planning for the future: potatoes.

Fall planting is a great way to plan for Spring when we are talking potatoes.  By the time you dig them in the Spring, you will be ready with your tomato plants or maybe your second succession planting of tomato plants to replace them with.
Here's the hilarious version (mine): Taters Reaching Out To Get You!
I know you haven't watched it because the stats say it's only been watched 25 times, and those were probably me.

Here's a guy who knows something: Fall Potato Planting

Here's what you need to know:...

Procrastination and Ice Cream Plants

When I saw the Klondike bars in the freezer Saturday I knew who bought them and what I had to do.  I could only eat three without getting a tummy ache or brain freeze.  My goal was to recreate the disappointment experienced so often when the other members of the family go to the freezer or pantry for dessert and find the dessert already gone.

The disappointment was not recreated since I was not able to eat them all.  Today somebody mentioned hiding them, which I never thought of.  Brilliant.  In the freezer.  Ingenious!  Behind stuff at the bottom.  Did you know I have a genius level IQ?  It hasn't helped me in life as this scenario demonstrated.

What does this have to do with gardening?

I know you...

Six Containers Growing Money -Update

Post success first to intimidate newbies.

The six vegetable containers are still on the back patio.  I still haven't sprayed them and only the lettuce seems unhappy, or dead, about it.

The squash have flowers, but they are male flowers.  The males flowers always come first.  The useful female, fruit-bearing flowers show up late.

The peppers have bloomed and set fruit.  The tomato has little toms; I'm not sure how many.  The bean has some little beans, but you really have to know what you are looking for to see them.  Something is eating the bean plants.  I have found unexplainable, truncated stems.

Lettuce without its make-up.

Overall, the container veggies have not grown as much as I expected.  However, I have done NO maintenance.  I mean NONE.  I watered them for the second time today.  It's rained regularly so they haven't ever wilted before.
 
There is a really important thing I haven't done yet that will make a huge difference...

You Don't Really Have To Read This One

The funniest thought occurred to me today and I knew it would be the perfect beginning to the make-up post apologizing for being incognito for a week.

But I didn't write it down.  That's twice in a week.  It hasn't been a very funny week, so I really needed those two funny thoughts.  Maybe they'll turn up.

My kids made me laugh too, until my cheeks hurt.  It was a strange sensation that I didn't recognise at first.  Best not to post that joke.  I had to sit on one kid to keep him from acting on the idea at the mall.  He cracked a few zingers too, that I didn't write down.  (We are getting to the garden part.)

Do you see a pattern here?  AB AB?  I should have written some things down and then I would have been able to write more, better things.  Just get started.  Any little thing helps.  Life lesson.  I wrote a post today because getting started is the hardest part.  

Which brings me to my sister's garden...

Are Jalapenos Spicier When Cooked?

There is a mountain of jalapeños and I am taking bids.  And bets.  But most of all recipes.

I decided to test Sarah's assertion that cooking the jalapeños makes them spicier.

Have you heard that story about not cleaning out the seeds with your bare hands?....Don't worry.  You can clean about three jalapeños before your fingers get burned.  I may be a little off.  When I was in labor and didn’t know it, the nurse asked me to rate the pain from 1-10 with 10 being highest.  I said, "Two.  Oh! That hurt.  Three."  So when I say the fourth pepper burned a little, it did.  Of course it burned for hours too, so it adds up.

Pouring vinegar on the burn worked wonders for my son’s jellyfish sting.  It doesn't work for jalapeño burn.  Just saving you some time.

There was a definite answer as to whether the japeno was spicier when cooked...