Saturday, September 18, 2010

Squash on my mind

All the squash are done for the season in my garden. It has been a rough season for the winter squash... pumpkins, Acorn Squash, even the Butternut Squash could not resist  the SVB.  It is time to rethink my plan for squash next year. Call me obsessive, but I am on a mission to have a decent squash harvest in spite of SVB's and Squash bugs! Those SVB's can drive a person to insanity!

 The Black Beauty summer squash did well despite the SVB damage. 8 Ball Zucchini did ok, Sebring did terrible. Acorn squash never got off the ground. It got a borer right from the start! I got two usable Butternut, and then this one I found today, invaded by a borer!  


The Sugar pumpkins did well despite the huge amount of damage done to the vines by SVBs. The vines were reduced to a dry brittle that fell apart when picked up.
No jack o' lantern style pumpkins survived the damage. This was the last Harvest Princess pumpkin that my poor daughter was anticipating. To the pumpkin farm we go again this year!


So, what shall I do next year? Break down and grow resistant varieties. Cucurbita Moachata, like a new butternut variety, Muscade De Provence looks like a nice pumpkin shaped variety, maybe a couple of others. Surely I can get some good cooking pumpkins and a couple of decent carving pumpkins, even though they won't be big, but at least, hopefully, they will survive! I'm also thinking of trying some Surround WP Kaolin Clay if I can find some locally. I've read good things about it and it's certainly worth a try!


 As for the fall garden, the lettuce seedlings seem to have all gathered together here.
 Pretty sure these are my spinach seedlings...
 My 4 yr old daughter wanted to help take pictures, so she took a picture of the first fall Pea flower! Hello Pea!

 Planted some sugar snap peas after I realized my kids like them after the neighbor brought them some for lunch one day. The Chard there has been nibbled on pretty good!
I have one more bed of what my daughter likes to call "Peanut Buttercrunch Lettuce"! Ya, we also have "Peanut Butternut Squash" in the garden too. New varieties! Ha! Well I do not know how the Buttercrunch  Lettuce will do since I have had a critter digger in my box! I have already replanted it, and it seems a bit late.


 This little bugger came in with the beans. I have a feeling he is one of those Bean Leaf Beetle Larvae. I've seen one or two similar ones of different color. And I believe they are feasting in my bean bed!
More things to rethink about the garden next year. Yes, I will be obsessing all winter long! Definitely going to incorporate more companion planting and mixing things up instead of planting one whole bed of beans, or tomatoes, or peppers, etc! See, this kind of stuff helps me to stay focused on my garden, there are always new challenges and you can always start new! It's never boring!

2 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear about that last pumpkin. It makes me appreciate the amount of veggies commercial farmers actually produce!

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  2. Boy, am I glad we aren't bothered with SVB (knock on wood)! I brought in 34 pounds of Waltham butternut squash, from my two plants, today. That makes 79-1/4 pounds this year, and there are four more out there that might ripen. If they do, it will put me over 90 pounds! I pulled most of the vines today, and they were loaded with blossoms and immature squash. It was my best year ever for butternuts and zucchini.

    My fall planted stuff is really wimpy this year. The lettuce I had counted on bolted to seed, the spinach and radishes came up spotty. Carrots look good, but won't be large enough to pull before we head south.

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