Leek Moths on the Garlic

I've been taking a closer look at the garlic plants lately (mostly just checking for scapes to harvest) and just last night realized I have leek moths.  These are an invasive species of moth from Europe that was accidentally introduced into the Ottawa area (where I'm located) in 1993.  It has since spread through Eastern Ontario, into Quebec and as of 2013 was found in Southwestern Ontario, Prince Edward Island and New York State.  Ugh.



They like all alliums, with their favourite being the leek.  I don't have any leeks.  So they like my garlic for now (and may switch to onions next, who knows).  They bore into the flat leaves (or the inside of onion leaves which are hollow) and eat them inside out.  They continue to the centre of the plant. 














For my garlic, it means the infected plants were damaged at the stalk and won't be producing any scapes (in my case, I found some larvae still inside the small scape that was growing).

Row covers will help ... in most areas they just need to be put back on by dusk and can be removed during the day.  In my area, row covers would need to remain permanently on until harvest.  I have friends who grow garlic that don't bother to cover and just take a chance that they'll have some survive.  I've definitely thought I had leek moth damage in previous years (mostly last year), but had never seen the actual larvae until now.

Why are bugs so creepy?!  After spending an hour removing any I could find, I had to come in and take a bath as I kept feeling like something was crawling on me.  How did I go from being a suburban kid afraid of any bug that came near me to being an organic gardener?  I should review my life choices sometime ...

In the meantime, I'll have to keep an eye out.  No point putting row covers on now as there could already be eggs in the soil waiting to hatch.  I found various stages - the pupae in the main photo, the larvae (you know, wiggly creepy wormy things) as well as the empty cocoon stuck to the leaves.  Out of about 70 plants in total, 20 or so probably were infected.  I'll keep them in the ground as I could still get useable garlic if I managed to catch them before they burrowed into the stalk.  So I'll just keep watching them and will pull them early if it looks like they are continuing to spread to other plants (I might be making Michelle's Crema di Green Garlic soon!).

There are various articles on Government of Canada or Ontario Agriculture Ministry sites.  Here's a link to the one I found the background info I mentioned in the first paragraph.

http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-us/offices-and-locations/pest-management-centre/publications-and-newsletter/sustainable-crop-protection-factsheet-series/an-integrated-approach-to-management-of-leek-moth/?id=1243356171595

Harvest Monday: June 15, 2015

This is my submission for Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday collection.  I was quite busy last week work-wise and, between late nights and all of the rain, I did not spend much time in the gardens.

But I managed to get caught up and had a good look over the weekend.  The basket of greens shown above is a combination of Kindle lettuce (intended to be butterhead style, but I couldn't wait for the heads to form) and Italian large leaf basil.  I finally had my first real salad!

I also had another nibble of spinach (seriously, just stood there at the sink eating it because it wasn't enough for anything else) and some radishes.

I've got some hot peppers already on the way (inside the greenhouse and outside) and plenty of flowers on the few tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Looking forward to the coming weeks with something a bit more substantial to harvest.

Crepes with Rhubarb Cream and Strawberry-Vanilla Bean Compote

My rhubarb plants seem to be growing slowly - new plants so I'm trying to be patient.  I harvested just a little bit recently and made this delicious breakfast / dessert (totally works for either!).  The strawberries are the last (seriously this time) bag of strawberries that I saved from last summer.


The Rhubarb Cream:

In a saute pan, combine the following and cook on low-medium heat until softened.

1 1/4 cups of 1" rhubarb pieces

1/4 cup maple syrup

Whip 2/3 cup of softened cream cheese.  Add 1/2 cup plain yogurt and whip another minute or two until well combined and creamy.




For the yogurt, I used Astro Balkan style - it's the original Greek yogurt - been around for years so not as pretentious.  :)

Once the rhubarb mixture has cooled, fold it into the cream mixture.  This can be made up to two days ahead of time.

The Strawberry-Vanilla Bean Compote:

In a small casserole dish, sprinkle 1 tsp of sugar on 1 cup of hulled strawberries.  Cut the vanilla bean in half then scrape the seeds onto the strawberries.  Chop the bean into a few pieces and toss it into the mix.  Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes.






The Crepes:


This is the same recipe I used for "crepes with plum chocolate nutella".






In one bowl:
1 cup flour
2 whole eggs
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp melted butter

Whisk until smooth.  Allow to rest - 10-15 minutes.  Just before preparing crepes, whisk in a 1/2 cup soda water.  Pour about a 1/2 cup of the mixture into a heated non-stick skillet.  Tilt the pan to swirl the batter into a thin layer around the pan.  It should only take a half to one minute per side.  Place on a clean towel while cooking the remainder.

The Final Step:

Spread each crepe with the rhubarb cream and fold or roll.  Top with warm compote.  Enjoy!