the yard marauders

The weed-whacker is the the most formidable opponent that my garden has faced thus far.   I was out of town for 10 days, and I came back to a grizzly scene.   I've seen aphids on old plants, I've heard tell of horrible tomato blight in years past, and there are definitely plenty of slugs in my lettuce, but none of these tiny pests have come close in destruction to the yard guy with a weed-whacker who descended upon my yard two days ago.  The guys my landlord pays to cut the grass hacked down my 3 month-old arugula, some carrots, and trampled my baby beets.  I put fences around most everything to keep the dogs out, but the few spots without a fence got it.  I pulled the carrots, the beets have a good chance since they were so small, and I guess I'll see what happens to the arugula, but it doesn't look good.

Next steps:  Get the yard guys off the calendar.  Buy this.   Cut the grass myself.

Butternut Squash Soup

From the Yard: Thyme, Bay Leaf

I've never really been a squash person -- I've had flings, but nothing serious. Two butternut squashes have been staring at me since Christmas, so I decided to do something about them tonight. I made a soup, and it was kind of delicious. This recipe will make about 3 or 4 servings if it's not the main course.

Cut a butternut squash in half. Put oil and salt on each half and put facedown on a cookie sheet. Cook at 375 for 35 minutes. Meanwhile caramelize half an onion in a dutch oven with a little olive oil. Scrape the flesh from the squash into the dutch oven. Add 4 cups of chicken stock, 1 tsp fresh thyme, a bay leaf, a pinch of cayenne, and a teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with a submersion blender. Add a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, a splash of apple-cider vinegar, and salt to taste (about 4 tsp).

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad with Pickled Onions

From the yard: beets, onions

Unpeeled roasted Beets are not much to look at.

The salad. Slice onions thinly and soak in vinegar for at least an hour. Roast beets at 375 for two hours.  Peel, slice, and layer on plate with sliced avocados.  Top with pickled onions, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt. 

Out with the beets, in with the kale.

My kale along the back of the house just hasn't done well.  I planted it a month ago, and the plants are only about an inch high.  The arugula next to it has done better.  I probably just need to plant herbs there.

The kale plants in the front bed, which were there when I moved in, have gone to seed along with their giant entangled arugula buddy.  I went to harvest today, and found them fully infected with what I think are aphids.  I probably should have smashed the aphids by hand, harvested the seeds, and tried to eat some of the now-tough leaves, but I got a little squeamish, so I ripped them out to make way for something new.  Below is a picture of the critters.

So I decided to start planting kale seeds whenever I harvest any beets. I'm quickly realizing the value of staggering a crop to keep harvesting more consistent. The bed is 15 feet away from the bed where the above-mentioned kale was murdered, so it seems like a good place to plant them.

First beet harvest

These beets were planted on November 3rd, about 4 months ago. This is the first harvest.

I planted a few more seeds today along the back of the house between the arugula and the mint when I realized that we will eat through the November patch in no time. I added a bit of soil builder and mixed it in an inch and then made two rows of 1" spaced seeds.  The soil here is thick, I hope the beets are cool with that.

carrots and fennel show their true selves

I returned from a few days out of town to baby carrots and fennel!  What I thought were little grass sprouts in my carrot patch and my fennel patch started to look like their future selves.  I'm glad I didn't weed them.  I planted the seeds on 2/5, so it took about 4 weeks to get to this point.  Notice the little grass-like leaves on the outside.

carrots

fennel