Gathering Squash and Cucumbers, 2008 Garden Vlog 8

[Shorty413]

That kind of looks like the june bugs we have here, except they are brown here.

[justmom66]

fried green tomatoes are not a waist of a good tomato! lol there YUM!

[luigichili]

awesome peppers ime and my friend have a garden and we got tons and tons of peppers here in arizona.

[marcandapril]

Just thought I'd let you know: my four-year-old vegetable gardening little boy absolutely LOVES this video. I don't know how many times we've watched it now.

Beautiful garden, btw!

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks for such a nice comment:))) I don't think I've ever had anyone mention watching one of my garden vids multiple times before, LOL. Hopefully your little boy will ultimately have many of his own harvests of squash and cucumbers!

[yllibllik]

that is indeed a june bug.leastways thats what we always call them in missouri.

[MyLittleGreenThumb]

your peppers are awesome! They never get that big in my garden and I think it's ust not hot enough here in VT.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks:) This for me was just an average crop of peppers. I've grown them much bigger in the past. I subscribe to a user named beutifullady who lives in Maine and grows peppers. She had a simply amazing crop last year which put mine to shame. So it is possible to grow big ones in your neck of the woods. She used a LARGE amount of compost. Plus she grows them up through permeable black landscape fabric. So I guess maybe that helps heat the ground up some.

[wrongdom]

Love your garden!!!

[AntaresInScorpius]

hey how did you get a 15 minute vid when i am limited to 10 minutes??

[Blinkazoid]

Up until the spring of 2007 if you had a Directors account you could post vids of any length you wanted. Then they limited it to

10 minutes but they grandfathered in the old Directors at the unlimited time.

[fatdaddy69er]

What a great garden! Looking foward to more vids.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks fatdaddy. I'll definately be doing a few more garden vids. I'm afraid a few things have gone downhill a little. The beans, peppers, and tomatoes really aren't what they should be. The squash looks like it'll reach gargantuan proportions though!

[blueclouds4me]

WOW, what a lovely garden. Everything looks so healthy;)

What do you do with ALL those cucumbers? Do you pickle them? I have made cucumber sandwiches and I use them in salads but I am trying to figure out what one does with so many?????

Thanks Blink,

Marylou

xxoo

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks Marylou! Mainly I give them away. I can eat about 5 or 6 a day max. The bad thing about cucumbers is they seem to come in all at once instead of bearing over a longer period of time. I don't like pickles well enough to bother with pickling them.

[moomay11649]

Beautiful garden Blinky. We grow our own too and we too have a jungle out there for the wild animals.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks Carol! I was watering just today and noticed more of the June bugs than I'd ever seen. I thought it was a swarm of bees at first the way they were flying everywhere. Maybe since there's fewer honeybees these days the June bugs have taken over the pollinating chores, LOL.

[flydarling]

I have to confess to a little envy here Robert your patch is fantastic and the veggies have my mouth watering. Just can't get better than freshly picked. Cheers, Lesley

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks Lesley:) I'm fortunate to live in a good area for most veggies. Except maybe for tomatoes which have a tendency to blight and I plan on planting those differently next year. Freshly picked rocks!

[anne2matthew]

I can never grow cucumber in Hk it's too wet..I always got a lot of snails and slugs eating them...Your squash looks soooo wonderful and also the tomatoes...wow

PS: you are 3rd place of mr legs..congrats

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks:) Ya, I just now saw Tesse's results video. I'm satisfied with 3rd place. There were a lot of entries. Maybe next time I should add a creative element for a little extra ooomph! Squash and cucumbers are two things which ALWAYS seem to do well here. I have almost no slug problem. Tomatoes are harder because they tend to blight and die out early. I had to trim out some affected limbs today. I plan on using a different method next year besides cages.

[skayc1]

oh and yep that's a june bug, I found one in the grass at camp dogwood and let Susie and Joe hold it lol, I used to tie them on strings and scare my sister!

[Blinkazoid]

I was pretty sure that was June Bug. Thanks for the verification. Every once in a while my cat Suzy will bring one of them inside. She doesn't eat them like she does millers though.

[skayc1]

cool!! how are your tomatoes doing? I planted my squash latter, so they are just begining, oh and my eggplant is growing 4 or more eggplants and my tomatoes are doing great!!

[Blinkazoid]

My tomatoes are doing good. Certainly better than last year and I had plenty to eat last year. I've had better years in the past with them though. I don't have a blush of red on any of them yet though. I might try setting them out underneath some protection a little earlier next year. I need to pop over to your channel and see if you've posted a hanging tomato update!

[skayc1]

lol a few of my cherry tomatoes are orange, and will be red soon!!

[PlutoPanda]

Awesome...I had some squash today for lunch it cost me a four block walk and 89 cents. It probably wasn't as delicious as yours, nor was it as pretty.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks PlutoPanda! Yeah, the store bought has a hard time competing because it's usually several days old and been handled a lot by the time it gets there. 89 cents a pound is a pretty good price though. I've seen it as high as about 2.19 a pound here in the wintertime.

[SplitPZ]

Nice Harvest! Enjoy the bounty...that's a beautiful garden. Do you freeze? Can/preserve? Gift?

[Blinkazoid]

Mostly I just eat and give away. I used to put corn in the freezer, but I've not grown corn in several years. I used to can beans (which is a TON of work) when I used to plant two full rows of 50 feet of that. I might put up a little okra this year. I'm sure I'll have a LOT of it the way it looks. I fry it about 3/4th done and put it in the freezer.

[GreatGig1]

YAY...harvest time! :-) A very plentiful and beautiful garden! :-)

[Blinkazoid]

Chomp, chomp, chomp. Did you say something? :)

[myrnaukelele]

Beautiful garden Blink. I'm so jealous- it's been so cool here this summer we can't even get squash.

[thizizliz]

That was a great closeup of the bug - it almost looked robotic when you slowed it down.

Gorgeous garden - great haul. All your hard work is paying off. Not just in good food, but in better health from the fresh food and from the work you put into getting it. Thank you.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks Liz! Hopefully it helps make up for the comparitively crappier food I ead the rest of the year, LOL.

[GramsandPapi]

WOW!!! Your garden is AWESOME!! Good eating!! Thanks, Grams

[Blinkazoid]

I think I'm going to set a record on how much squash I've eaten this year, LOL. If I start turning yellow it's not jaundice, it's just the squash, LOL.

[1DRock37167]

Looking good! I think Im gonna post an update before I leave for vacation, if I get the chance.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks Daryl! I hope you and your garden are doing well these days!!

[randomwritings]

Oh dear, there I was wittering about how they aren't cucumbers, they are gherkins only to be told that they are one and the same! Great crops you have there - can't wait to see you cook em - I have only ever seen you cook rat!

[3CoolKats]

Well I did cook some fudge on video once. Hey, wait a minute. Chocolate covered rat!!! Now that sounds like a delicacy, LOL.

[randomwritings]

Ooh Chocratty!

[robertpina99]

That is one of the most interesting green beetles I have seen. They don't grow like that out west. I like those yellow squash chopped and stirred with pepper and salt. That's all you really ever need.

[3CoolKats]

I cooked some like that just the other day and it was great! Normally I fry them though and will eventually do a squash frying vid.

[JeepGirl2]

Oh yum! Cukes!

LOL @ your garden tossing. :0)

That doesn't look like the June bugs we have here in TX. But maybe they differ by state.

Hooray for Squash!

Looks like you are having some great summer eats!

[3CoolKats]

I just now Google Imaged it and it does look like a variety of bugs are called "June Bugs" This one *did* show up amongst them. Apparently some people also call it a "Green June Beetle".

[JeepGirl2]

Cool! They come in green too! :0)

[bugsinrug]

What a wonderful garden Robert! I love squash. Yum yum!! Green peppers are a must too. hugs, Chris

[3CoolKats]

Thanks Chris! I do eat some of the peppers green but on the ones which eventually turn red, I feel that they have more flavor after they turn red. (Hugs)

[debbiez112]

I love your garden! Everything is doing great. I bet them squash and cucumbers were so good. I always felt like home grown stuff taste so much better.

[Blinkazoid]

Until today I've eaten squash 7 days in a row, LOL. Nothing like fresh garden veggies. I'm sure they have more nutrients than ones that's been laying in the produce section of the store for who knows how long. I was lazy this evening and just fixed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, LOL.

[loadbrecht]

I think you should reshoot this so I can see you put the cucumbers in the bag

[Blinkazoid]

Hehehehe, I think 16 minutes is already more than most people can stomach! I'll film me bagging the cucumers next year, LOL.

[Ravensinger]

I can't get over how great your squash looks. That is the one thing that just didn't make it this year in my garden. You have the perfect climate for growing these great veges. Fantastic stuff! The deer were very friendly to the okra. *smile* What a great harvest.

[Blinkazoid]

The two things I can *always* count on doing well in my garden are squash and cucumbers. Everything else seems to be hit and miss from one year to the next. I guess that FL heat must do your squash in. Even here the leaves oftentimes wilt down severely during the middle of the day and then perk up at night. The deer were stepping all over the okra when it was smaller but I had a lot of extra plants. Now that I've it's much bigger and I've thinned it they've not stepped on a single plant.

[Maiyanna]

That's a lot of squash and cucumbers! The peppers look great!

[Blinkazoid]

Yep, everything is doing great! I just noticed today that I have little tiny beans:)

[vince1389]

nice looking garden! do you use pesticides on your plants or are you an organic gardener

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks vince! I'm a semi-organic gardener. I use no pesticides but I do use a bit of fertilizer.

[hallbe]

I love cucumbers! I practicly live on them all summer ;-)

[Blinkazoid]

Yayyy cucumbers! Delicious *and* low cal!!!

[dorotwhy]

Your garden is so far ahead of mine! This is the best part of gardening, even better than Christmas! Love you hair :O)I do have one or two cherry peppers that I snooker while I mow the lawn. Glad you showed the okra.

[Blinkazoid]

Thanks dorotwhy!!! I'm *really* looking forward to eating some okra and tomatoes. I've not planted okra in several years so this will be a treat!

[Perroquet51]

I recently became familiar with cucumber soup which was great. I also like diced cumcumber salad from the deli. I need to find a recipe for those.

Looking forward to your cooking video.

BTW, fried green tomatoes are wonderful if made correctly. Of course, I don't know how to do it, but I've had them.

[Blinkazoid]

I've never tried cucumber soup. I can't imagine it not being good though! Normally I fry the squash but last night I tried some squash soup which consisted of squash, potatoes, onions, and peas and it was very good. Better than I thought it would be actually.

[liz1060]

Wonderful garden again this year, Blink. If you won't fry a tomato, will you fry a squash? Heheheh ;D

[Blinkazoid]

Not only will I fry a squash but I'll show a video of me doing it:))) Hopefully it'll be FAR less than 16 minutes long!!!

[Chivalryaintdead]

Wow man, I wish I had land like that, so much cheaper and better to grow your own!

[Blinkazoid]

I probably don't eat the things I should for most of the year so at least for a few months when the garden stuff is in I kinda eat the way I should. Hopefully it helps give me an immunity to the Big Macs and fries the rest of the year, LOL.

[michaelispan]

Salad Time... and the livin's easy.:-)

[Blinkazoid]

Yep, Well except for the rototilling, the planting, the watering, the bug squishing, and the picking, that is, LOL.