Mexican Bean Beetle Invasion

As Arizona’s monsoon weather patterns draw to a close between the end of August and the beginning of September, Tucson’s insect population reaches its peak. Every insect pest from every other gardener’s plot has had all summer to reproduce and delights in finding a new habitat to call home. Unfortunately, many local gardeners either don't know what to look for or do not tend to their garden often enough to notice the insects destroying their gardens - because there are always plenty of insect pests to deal with in the Tucson city limits. 
 


The Mexican Bean Beetle

Along with a variety of cucumber beetles (which come in all colors and patterns) this summer the monsoon winds have brought another unwelcome guest to my garden: the Mexican Bean Beetle. My experience with this pest has led me to believe that this beetle prefers sweet potato vines over beans, melons, or squash – but that it will go after any or all of these plants if given a chance.



Mexican Bean Beetle Nymph

 Although my sweet potato vines have more to fear from my beloved children tromping through them than from a little beetle, I have no intention of making this insect a reoccurring visitor to my garden.



Mexican Bean Beetle Larva

The beetles look similar to ladybird beetles, but are much larger, with an orange coloration. Their clumsy and slow habit leads me to believe that, like horse lubber grasshoppers, that they may be poisonous. I kill or remove as many as I can, as I find them, though they do tend to live beneath the leaves – which makes them nearly impossible to find among the sweet potato vines.



Mexican Bean Beetles should be renamed Sweet Potato Beetles!

So – if you happen to see one of these beetles roaming around in your garden please don’t pass it off as a ladybug. Eliminating menacing insects not only helps you, but is an invaluable benefit for all the gardeners who live around you. I can only hope other gardeners in Tucson take note.

Candystick Dessert Delicata Winter Squash

As a gardener and a parent I am always in pursuit of vegetable varieties that my children will eat. So, when I saw that Carol Deppe had a Delicata squash that was described in her catalogue “as reminiscent of Mediool dates” I decided to give them a try. “Candystick Dessert Delicata” winter squash is a tan cylindrical squash with tan and green stripes. Though the fruit can grow up to 3 pounds, the majority of the delicates I grew from this plant tended to be smaller. The plants I grew produced a prolific crop of these delicatas in a short amount of time.



This is the second generation of Candystick Delicatas I grew this year

The flesh of the Candystick Delicata is very dry and compact and cooks incredibly quick. Baking this squash halved and upside-down in a little water at 375° Fahrenheit, should take – at most – 15 minutes. While Carol Deppe suggested 2-3 weeks for curing, in the desert southwest the sweetness of the squash is more related to how long it had been on the vine, in the heat, than with how long the squash is stored. On the other hand, if you try growing this variety in a cooler climate, curing would definitely be advised. Sweetness also tended to be related to how light colored the flesh was. More mature squash with lighter colored flesh tended to have more sweetness than squash with darker flesh.

Some of the Candystick Delicata Squash Blossoms right after setting.

So, how sweet was this squash? Sweet enough for my kids not to complain about eating squash (which is saying something) but not sweet enough for them to ask for seconds. Because of how dry the flesh is I would highly recommend buttering it after cooking it or having something to drink while you eat it. This delicata would also be very tasty if sautéed onions were added to the cavity of the squash for a fine tasting dinner. With all of this said, this squash is also very good eaten plain. Both my wife and I are not squash fans, but we have gladly eaten these plain. The savory taste and incredible texture make this delicata worth eating all by itself.

The lighter and harder the interior flesh, the sweeter the taste

In short – if you are looking for a dessert for children I would not look to growing squash unless your kids are really desperate or love squash. That being said, the texture of this squash is very good and I could only imagine that this delicata variety could be used to make some incredible pie.

Tomatoes Aplenty

From the beginning of May up until a few weeks ago we had plenty of tomatoes. Unfortunately, tomato plants do not last forever – and a spider mite infestation took hold of all my tomato vines before I could manage it.

After many years of work with tomatoes it was nice to have a good harvest



One of my Celebrity tomato plants in May

In consideration of the spider mite damage, I decided to pull out all my old tomato vines and let all my other vegetables grow until I could acquire more starts.



Before a trip I picked all the partially ripe tomatoes to give away

Royal Burgundy Bush Beans

For years I have been growing beans that do well in Tucson’s hot, often dry, climate. As often happens in Tucson, it is easy to grow vegetables that taste poor while it is often difficult to grow good tasting vegetables – without some form of shade or special care.

Royal Burgundy Beans growing on a bush

Royal Burgundy Bush Bean Yield

Most of the beans I have grown in the past require additional preparation in cooking – usually blanching. Although the Royal Burgundy Bush Bean is nothing special it has passed all the tests I had it go through. This bean variety is heat resistant, it neither attracts lace bugs or succumbs to their destruction, and it tastes good. A few of the bean plants did burn a little in June, but most held on and produced a second crop of beans in July.

A few of the first Royal Burgundy Bush Beans I picked from my garden



Dry Royal Burgundy Bush Beans exhibit a mottled creamy tan color

Royal Burgany Bush Beans - Before cooking

As for cooking, it can be steamed, baked, sautéed, or boiled without any preparation beforehand. In short, the Royal Burgundy bush bean is a heat tolerant, bug resistant, regular bush bean. This bean will definitely be growing in my garden in the future. The source for my seed was a packet a friend gave to me from Botanical Interests.

Like many Purple Beans, Royal Burgundy do not retain their color when cooked.

The Satsuki Midori Cucumber

My experience with growing cucumbers in the Southwest has led me to believe that the two type of cucumbers worth growing in our unbearable heat and full sun are either cucumber-melons (C. melo) or Japanese cucumbers. While looking for a vigorous, yet tasty cucumber variety I came across the Satsuki Midori Cucumber. I obtained my seed for this variety from Seeds of Change.

This Satsuki Midori Cucumber was sweet and delicious

This cucumber turned out to be fairly sweet, crisp, and delicious. I experienced no bitterness at all. It is similar to Suyo Long – except Suyo long has a finer texture while the Satsuki Midori is definitely sweeter. I would definitely grow it again.



The cucumber ends are pointed due to setting fruit in the heat

The only concern I have with this variety in this climate is that half the female blossoms failed to set, due to the heat of the middle of the day. The majority of the blossoms that did set were able to do so because they were protected by leaves.



Blossom set can decrease when flowers dry out in the heat

The plant itself tends to be heat tolerant, though the fruit is not. For those growing this variety in the southwest I would recommend partial shade to promote greater fruit production.

Fruit sets better behind the shade of foliage