Into the Garden...

Last night, as the sweltering heat started to decline, I wandered out to the garden to explore for ready produce. As I meandered into the middle of the garden, I noticed that my plants were moving. Now, when I say moving - I don't mean from the slight breeze helping to wick away the summer sweat. There were little black bugs everywhere, including my legs. Immediately, in horror, I jumped out from the garden, brushed myself off, and ran into the house to consult the book of knowledge - the internet. What I found, was one absolute possibility - flea beetles. In all my life, I have never heard of such a thing. Yet, here they were, right before my eyes - their army had invaded, and I was feeling defeated. Upon reading a little further, I noticed that this is a common problem in many areas, and that there was a solution to be found.
After searching the bathroom, I found ingredient number one. That trusty bottle of rubbing alcohol that serves many purposes you would never think of. I took that to the kitchen and mixed my solution - 2 parts rubbing alcohol, 5 parts water, and 1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap.
I was quick to notice, upon my return to the battleground, that these little buggers were nesting mostly in my radishes and taking over whatever they could jump to from there. I pulled every last radish plant (something that should have been done awhile ago) and disposed of them far away from the garden. From there, it was time to battle. I used all of my solution on as many plants as I could cover. It seemed to be helping - at least the little buggers weren't jumping to attack me any longer.
This morning, I headed out to see my success. To my surprise, there were still some soldiers, but their numbers had been significantly reduced. I mixed up more solution and sprayed again.  Here's to hoping for their utter defeat by the end of the day!!

Now, my garden is nothing to write home about. It is the first time planting in this location, which means it was recently tilled prior to planting. I didn't do any of the recommended prep, and most of the seeds were shoved in the dirt between rain showers that soaked our area for most of the planting season. Many of the seeds never sprouted - some were replanted again. That brings me to my cucumbers. Apparently they were just late, because after we replanted new seeds, we quickly noticed that both rounds of planting were peeking up through the tough crust. Even after pulling roughly 50 cucumber plants, the remaining ones have taken over. If every yellow flower turns into a cucumber, we could potentially hold the world record for production in one season. Okay, so maybe it isn't that many - but there are a lot of them. I know that the most logical solution is to can, and thankfully we have had someone offer to help us if we decide to go that route. Someday, I hope to be prepared enough to learn how to do it as I truly miss the staple of my youth - homeade pickles and pickled green beans. This is not going to be that year. Don't get me wrong, I truly love garden fresh cucumbers and could probably eat them every day, however the same recipes get old over time. So, I am looking for suggestions - what do you do with your over abundance of cucumbers? Do you have any to die for recipes that I should try??