Comments on: Squash Wars

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:32:17 +0000

Carrie–I’ve seen some great garden journals. I should really keep one. I think it would be a great help.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:56:40 +0000

Just found this post. We had borers this year. I was so disgusted when I saw one of the nasty creatures in MY garden in MY squash plant. We still managed to get 10-12 good squash though before I pulled all the plants up! I think next year I will keep a gardening journal to detail everything.

By: Clean-Handed Bug Murder | Little House in the Suburbs

Clean-Handed Bug Murder | Little House in the Suburbs — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:44:02 +0000

[...] confession time. Unlike TL, I don’t touch bugs. I have worked up to rolling those itty bitty sugar ants with my [...]

By: TL

TL — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:48:12 +0000

We are getting some good suggestions. People have some good ideas. Surely if we do all of them we are bound to get a squash or two!

By: Brown Thumb Mama

Brown Thumb Mama — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:50:34 +0000

Sounds like you’re fighting the war on all fronts! Keep it up. Last year I lost all of my green beans to some sort of mildew (misdiagnosed by the guy at the nursery as spider mites).

My squash are slow to germinate this year too. I’ll keep an eye on them and use some of your tips if they have trouble. Time to plant some nasturtiums to give them extra help too!

By: TL

TL — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:29:11 +0000

Hi, karen–I will find a good candidate and try it. I did try this last year but I did it all wrong. My burying dirt was too dry and I don’t think it had a chance to root out again. I think if I kept that dirt mulched with newspaper or something like that and kept it well watered it would work this time. I hope . . .
Thanks for the reminder and the description. I may not have not used a sharp enough knife either. Messy cuts.

By: karen

karen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:15:20 +0000

You know you can do “surgery” on your squash/pumpkin plants to get out the squash borers. If the damage is not too severe, take a sharp, clean knife, slit the stem where the borer entered, pull out the little bugger and then cover the slit and stem up with dirt. I’ve done this before and it works, the plant does make a come back.

By: TL

TL — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:09:36 +0000

Thank you! And sorry about your powdery mildew. I have new hope with all these great suggestions. I will check out your reference, kelly, thanks a bunch.

By: TL

TL — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:08:00 +0000

This is such good stuff! Thanks for the great tips! I’m so ready to have a good squash year!

By: TL

TL — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:05:21 +0000

I like that, sort of an invisibility cloak for the garden. Hmm . . . I’m already thinking next year’s garden. What an arsenal I’ll have assembled with y’all’s advice.