The Harvest, Part 1

As you sow, so shall you reap - and I, my friends, have reaped some lovely spinach and red lettuce! While most of our crops will not be ready for weeks to come, our spinach and leaf lettuce have been ready for harvest for several weeks! We pick the largest outside leaves first while the inside leaves mature. You have to pick leaves frequently to prevent flowering or else the plants will stop producing leaves. I've decided that I will definitely grow lots of lettuce again next spring. Not only are all the fresh salads great, but being able to reap the rewards of our garden so early when no other veggies are ready for picking is very exciting and satisfying. The lettuce also seems to be a fairly low maintenance crop, especially since the fence keeps rabbits out and bugs don't seem to be interested in this variety.

On the downside, we have had some garden pest issues lately. We noticed a few small insect nibbles on the spinach leaves, which soon became many bites on the zucchini, bean, and tomato leaves. A little observation revealed some striped beetles that resemble the Colorado potato beetle. Husband and I saw these beetles crawling on the plants on separate visits to the garden. We are not growing potatoes; however, the beetles will apparently feed on some other crops, including a few we are growing. I suspect that some of the damage may also be caused by stink bugs, which are rampant in PA. So far, the plants still seem to be growing fine, so I hope they will survive the damage and still produce veggies.

We purchased an organic insecticide spray called Organocide when we bought our first seeds just in case we would need one. We sprayed this once so far and have not seen the beetles since. We will be mulching the garden with our finished compost to improve the health of the plants, fight weed growth, and hopefully prevent any potato beetle eggs from hatching under the soil. We have thoroughly inspected the leaves of all plants and have not seen any eggs or additional pests. I'm hoping we can nip this in the bud early and move on to the enjoyable parts of gardening.

I'll post again when I have an update. Happy gardening, and check back soon for a new recipes feature!