i'm still here/a quick garden update

will you just look at that!!!

the garden has exploded and is desperate need of tending to. and just where have i been? well, for two full weekends we were out of town, and, i have also started a new part time job. but, since i was in training, i worked a full 40 hours last week, which left little time for the garden, and the neglect is showing. so off the computer and into the garden i go for the morning. right now, the big issue in the garden is the winter squash take over. therefore, room needs to be made so i can re-route the ever growing vines. 

for now, i just wanted to drop a quick post to let ya'll know that i am still here, 

and still gardening, and still cooking, and still posting. 

so, stay tuned, there is more to come. 

p.s. (11:30 am) i was just out in the garden doing some clean up and spotted a squash vine borer moth. oh, great!!! now i gotta go back out there, look for eggs and signs of larva in the base of the plant stems, and figure out how to "cover vines at leaf joints with moist soil, to promote formation of secondary roots that will support the plant if the main root and stem are injured." check out this website for more info on the subject, and click here for a picture of the stinking little bugger.

garden note to self: how to prune winter squash. advise taken from Rob Johnston, the owner of Johnny's Selected Seeds, as found in the NY times... (A typical squash plant will make 20 pounds or so of squash, and that's all you want to ask of it,'' he said. ''So once the plant sets four or five fruits, you can prune it back.'' On each runner, leave a couple of leaf nodes past the last fruit you want to keep, he said. Then, pinch off the growing tip at the next node. If the vine is huge, you may have to cut off quite a bit instead of just pinching. As long as you don't trample the leaves or disturb the main root, you won't hurt the plant or the squash left on it.)