watermelons and garden update

[squash bug]

[the squash bug eaten zucchini and yellow squash 8/28/10]

The squash bug tore up our garden. We we came back from vacationing in the Northwest early August, and all of our zuchinni were gone and any hope of our new yellow squash was lost as well.

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[watermelon taken 7/28/10]

The bug was aggressive and started to go after our watermelons but I wasn't going to let that happen. We ran over to Ace and found an organic spray that we hoped would kill the bugs. It took a couple weeks and a few spray sessions, but I think the bug is gone. At least for now. Everything we've read about these bugs tells us that we need to hand pick them and spray. Unfortuntaely by the time we realized what kind of bug it was they had multiplied five times over and there were little babies covering the garden. It was a sad sight. (Hence the lack of garden blogging).

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[garden 8/29/10]

Now that we have recovered from the squash bug disaster, it's time for our fall garden. We pulled out the tomatoes, even though they were still producing, because they kept falling over. We didn't realize the potential of our garden this year, and had no idea everything would get so big! Next year we plan to be more on top of it. We'll trim, thin, and pick more than we did this year. Anyway we pulled out the tomatos last Monday and by that point so many had fallen that we have lots of little tomato plants that have sprouted. I keep trying to stay on top of it, but they keep popping up everywhere! Ha.

We also pulled up any remaining carrots. The peppers and watermelon are all that are left. We'll see how they do.

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[butternut squash 8/29/10]

I went ahead and planted butternut and acorn squash (both have sprouted!!) following the tomato pull up. Then last weekend I planted one row each of spinach, bib lettuce, and romaine lettuce. I also put in another round of zucchini and yellow squash. I'm on alert for the bugs, but either way I'm not sure they will do as well as this summer. I'm convinced that the plethora of hot nights made the yellow and zucchini thrive. We'll see. Either way I'm really excited.

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[watermelon 8/29/10]

Our watermelons are doing well. We've got a handful of cantaloupe-sized watermelon and lots of little fuzzy baby ones. I can't wait to taste them! We're go to let them keep growing until it starts to get considerably cooler.

Happy fall gardening to all! I'm looking forward to a great crop.