Slug hunter

I started the day with my first ever slug hunt, which was about as exciting as it sounds.  We had some rain last night, and it was foggy this morning, so when I got up, I headed out to the squash field to pick slugs.  Lily and Bullet had to stay inside, which they were not pleased about, but I don't trust their ability not to step on the squash plants.  There weren't as many slugs out as I had expected, so I only got about seven, which I gave to the chickens, who were very appreciative.  My poor squash plants have taken quite a beating from the combination of cucumber beetles, squash, and an inattentive farmer.  Out of my four original spaghetti squash hills, I only have one plant left, which is a bummer since I really love spaghetti squash.  Below is one of the happier nutty delica hills.  Of the squash plants, the Lumina pumpkins, candy roaster squash, rouge d'etampes pumpkins, and sweet dumplings are faring the best.  The spaghetti squash and uncle david's dakota winter squash have taken the greatest hit from the bugs, especially sad since these were two of the varieties I was looking forward to the most.  I think that next year, I'll invest in floating row covers to protect the baby seedlings.  I'll probably also move my squash field to a different location, to see if that will help.



The giant pumpkins are doing better, and I may have to stop calling them "more dead" and "less dead" soon if they keep growing!   Below are both of them.  If you look closely, you can see tendrils starting to form on both. 



Giant pumpkin 1 (formerly, "less dead" giant pumkin)



Giant pumpkin 2 (formerly "more dead" giant pumpkin)

More exciting than the squash is the fact that I harvested my first broccoli and beet greens last night for dinner!  I decided to make a mashed potato crusted quiche, as I love quiche made with broccoli and greens.  The broccoli that I mentioned earlier this week was very close to blooming, so I took that stalk.  While I was in the garden, I decided to use beet greens, to start the thinning process in the beet bed.  Lastly, I grabbed some more arugula, because I have so much of it that I've been trying to incorporate it into every meal, which is actually a lot easier than it sounds.

Broccoli, pre-harvest

Broccoli, arugula and beet greens, pre-quiche

As you can see above, I had a tiny beet that came with the greens, so I cut it up and threw it into the quiche as well.  I'm happy to report that the quiche was delicious, and it was very satisfying to make a dinner that included three different vegetables that I've grown!

Finished quiche!