Recipe: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash
Pasta Sauce
Salt
Pepper

Thinly cut the ends off of the Spaghetti Squash. Slice the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise (this may be difficult without a very sharp knife). Remove seeds and loose pulp from the center of the squash. Put about 1/4 inch of water in a large glass baking dish. Lightly salt and pepper the water. Carefully place the squash face-down in the water. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Remove Spaghetti Squash from the baking dish and scrape the pulp free with a fork. Put pasta sauce over it and enjoy!

Harvests

Below is my harvest from tonight. Two spaghetti squash, 1 yellow squash, and a gallon bag of green beans. I waited to see the snake in the garden tonight to take a picture of him, but he must have been away or cleaning the 5 inches of rain we've had in the past few days out of his home.

Here is my harvest from Sunday after coming home from a weekend away. This is the first of the green beans and spaghetti squash.

A few of the spaghetti squash plants may have died from the standing water that was in the garden yesterday. I went out today and some of the plants are wilted.

Rain and Veggie Total

While continuing to fight weeds and crabgrass, the rain just keeps pouring down in buckets! We've had about 4 inches so far in June and more storms are predicted today. We've lost a few branches from trees and the corn has been knocked over for about 3 days now. I've propped it back up a few times. I placed more straw in the rows last night and picked a sink full of lettuce, 5 cucumbers and 2 zucchini. The spaghetti squash are beginning to get a little larger than softballs, so it won't be long now until they're ready!

Total Veggies Planted:
Green Beans - 2 rows
Tomatoes - 44 plants
Broccoli - 2 plants
Hot Peppers - 5 plants
Bell Peppers - 4 plants
Onions - 1 package of sets
Lettuce - short rows as needed
Radish - short rows as needed (done until fall)
Watermellon - 1 hill
Canteloupe - 1 hill
Corn - 4 rows
Cucumbers - 2 hills
Zucchini - 1 hill
Yellow Squash - 1 hill
Spaghetti Squash - 2 hills
Strawberries (done)

Recipe: Squash Stir-Fry

1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
1 Onion
1-2 Clove(s) Garlic
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Grated Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

Chop Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Onion, Garlic into bite sized pieces. Heat skillet and add all ingredients to pan. Cook until desired tenderness. Add cheese to skillet or sprinkle on top when served.

Cucumber & Zucchini

Tonight I picked the first cucumber and first zucchini of the season! The cucumber tastes pretty good. I have been anxious to get the first one since over the past 3-4 years, they've been very bitter for some reason. I think we depleted the soil of all of the nutrients needed for cucumbers.

The Spaghetti Squash are doing very well and have some as large as golf balls on them. The Strawberries are pretty much finished. I picked 3 days worth and only had about 20 berries yesterday.

Weeds, Weeds, & More Weeds.... and a Snake!

For the past few days, we've been working on the weeds in the garden. We've been able to get a pretty good handle on the larger areas, but now I'm working on up close to the plants.

Tonight's vegetable of choice for weeding was the green beans. As I rounded the corner after the first row, a small snake came at me. Whether it was 2 inches long or 4 feet long, I'm not sure, but it definitely made me jump back and gasp for air. I walked away from the garden and gave it some space to go back wherever it needed to and after catching my breath, I cautiously continued weeding the green beans from the other end. I'm still a little nervous to get back into that corner for now. Maybe in a few days I'll work up the nerve to finish that area.

I've now picked 5 yellow squash. We had a mixture of brats, squash, onions, peppers, & spices in foil on the grill on Friday night and tonight we had chicken quesadillas with squash, onions, peppers, and cheese. We'll probably have zucchini ready to pick over the next 3 days or so.

Mid-80 degrees + humidity

The weather has been perfect for the garden to really take off. The green beans are starting to form flowers and the tomatoes doubled in size over the weekend. We'll be eating yellow squash in the next few days and the spaghetti squash is starting to run across the garden.

The weeds have had a chance to get ahead again since we were away for Memorial Day weekend, so I'll be focusing on controlling the weeds for the next few days. I'll be laying down straw in the walkways as this seemed to work well last year.