Good evening all and welcome to another one of my wonderful blog posts. Just kidding...I will let you form your own opinion on my posts.
Now, here is one concentrated on my zucchini and squash plants in my upper raised bed. This picture just below shows the first harvest of the season...2 zucchinis and a yellow squash. Let me tell you, over the course of last year, we had so many zucchinis and yellow squashes that it was coming out of our ears. We had it in everything from salads to grilled in foil packets to chocolate zucchini bread. And yes...chocolate? Yes, unbelievably delicious and fibrous.
Below is a photograph from the upper side of the vegetable garden showing the zucchini plants and compost bin along with the deer netting. I have to say, I got the netting on Amazon.com...I believe it is seven feet tall and like a hundred feet long. Good deal. I had no problems with deer whatsoever and my neighborhood is densely populated with the four-legged garden munchers.
As you can see in the two shots below, it looks like my plants are wilting and need a desperate drink of water. Yes it is July and yes it is ninety degrees, but no, they do not need a drink as the soil is moist.
Upon closer inspection, it is what I found out to be as the dreaded Squash Vine Borer. It is a moth with a wasp-like appearance about a half inch long with an orange abdomen. In late June or early July is when this bugger becomes a problem...in zone 6.
They will lay eggs at the base of the plants where they will hatch and the larvae will burrow into the vine. These larvae will feed on the interior tissues of the vine causing the plant to wilt and die off. I have heard that planting radishes in the very near vicinity will repel these bugs. I will see. I will just have to be extra vigilant with my plants.
Yuck, it destroyed so much, but as fast as they could kill the plants, the plants kept growing. Needless to say, I did not get as many fruits as I wanted.
See you next time and Keep On Growing!
