Garden Report - 6/17/08

Last week Joeprah asked: Is this a gardening blog? To answer his question: Why, Yes! For the Summer, it looks like this is what my blog is turning out to be. Lots of similarities between mothering & gardening. You plant the seeds, nurture, water, feed and they grow. The miracle of life!

This weekend I cleaned out a bunch of weeds and transplanted pepper and tomato plants that popped up around the garden. This is our 5th year of the vegetable garden. Each year I gain new insights and we change the layout and crop selection ever so slightly. I have also gotten better at recognizing weeds and tree seedlings from vegetable starts.

I only bought 3 tomato plants this year and everything else is from seed or reseeded itself. New to our garden is the yellow squash which is planted next to the cucumbers. Last year was a fantastic year for peppers and fair for tomatoes; cucumbers did not fare so well. Some sort of blight. This year I positioned the cukes in the same area as the first year, The Year of The Cucumber, where we had a bumper crop and shared with many of our neighbors. I hope we will have the same good fortune this year.

So far we have had an over-abundance of Dill. I learned a few things about Dill this weekend. Contrary to popular belief, Dill is not a garden bug repellent. It can attract a few pests such as the dreaded Tomato Horned Worm ( looks like Heimlich the fat Caterpillar from Bug's Life ). I did some research on the internet and this is what I learned:
1. Horn Worms are attracted to Dill but the good news is that it makes them easier to spot. I found about a dozen small worms and threw them in the yard waste trash can.
2. Fully grown the Horn Worms turn into Hummingbird Moths. They are freaky looking, similar to hummingbirds but not as cute. We had a few last year and now I know where they came from.
3. Dill can be frozen. Simply wash, dry, cut up and put in freezer bags.

I have cleared out some of my dill by giving to neighbors, freezing some and transferring some to pots to be given away (perhaps left on doorsteps like orphan babies). I hate to let my plants go to waste but will need to clear away more. They are taking up too much space and crowding out other plants such as onions, tomatoes and peppers.

If anyone out there has any great recipes that use Dill, let me know! Right now I use it with Tuna fish and in salads.