I DESPISE squash bugs! But, since I don't want to kill pollinators or other beneficial insects, I have used companion planting, DE, soap sprays to control them. I also gather tips from fellow gardeners - LOVE the duct tape idea for the eggs, Gumby! One thing that works to keep the squash bugs from my cucumbers is planting them among tansy. It has worked for me every year, though I have had problems in another area of the garden with my squash and melons. Someone suggested to avoid using mulch for my squash, and that is what I will do this year, since the cukes get no mulch either - must be a connection. Row cover is another good tip, but I have not yet tried this. I would encourage you to try and avoid using pesticides, as the jury's still out on the connection betweeen their use and the problems with bee colony collapse. Depends on what study you read, and who put it out there, but my bet is that pesticide use cannot be ruled out as at least part of the cause.

Yes, thank you for asking! Well..improvement? we shall see. Progress? yes! I had all of the cardboard from underneath the soil removed. Leaving it as the native clay-like soil underneath. Which still had some weeds/grass but i am assuming that is okay. I waited about 5 days to let the soil reestablish (and there were two days of rain), and I literally just got done replanting most of the plants. I put a handful of rock phosphate in each hole. I switched up the beds, so that the tomatoes are in the furthest bed with the most sun, as well as a couple of the summer squashes. The middle bed now has 4 of the kabocha plants in it. My cucumbers didn't take on the transplanting very well so i threw those out. I am now just waiting to plant some new seeds that I have started. Bell peppers and some more (saved seeds) kabocha. I am crazy about kabocha so I am okay to donating one and a half beds to them:) after 5 days the kabocha have already sprouted!! I don't know that the original plants will produce, but I have til the end of the month or so to see how they adapt and if they don't...I still have enough time to plant new seeds for the second season of summer. After planting them about an hour ago, I hand watered them with the hose (sprayer attached) a couple of times up and down. Im not real sure how to measure with this method but it will just take trial and error i suppose. I also plan to fertilize them later this week with "hasta gro" organic liquid fertilizer. pics! removing the cardboard.. replanted tomatoes and squash replanted kabocha kabocha sprouts!

Well its time for another update. Just got done making some Bread N Butter and Kosher Dill Pickles out of the Boston Pickling cucumbers. That was roughly 15 pounds of cucumbers, hopefully I will be able to make one more batch. The straight 8's and burpless variety are coming on fairly strong now. I have picked 1 bell pepper so far and a few more are coming. Been picking the Jalapenos and Cayenne peppers for awhile now (anybody have any good salsa recipes also looking for some good things to do with my cayennes already made some pepper sauce with it). Getting ready to start pickling some of the Banana Peppers that have come in so far. The green beans are coming along quite well and have been picking them for a few weeks now. The tomato plants have all pretty much overgrown the tops of the cages except for the cherry (but they're trying their hardest). Have gotten some Rutgers and quite a lot of the Black princes picked and eaten. I picked 2 Lemon Boy's and I have to say I really like the taste. The 2 Zucchini plants went nuts and I must have picked around 25 - 30 so far. The yellow squash (straight and crook neck) have produced pretty good have gotten about the same number from them. I think they are all getting pretty played out now. I may try planting a couple more of each (anybody got any good recipes for them?) The cantaloupes are doing pretty good and I have several that are getting pretty big.My watermelon is coming right along have the sugar babys on a trellis. Has anybody had any luck growing them that way and not using something to support the melons like stockings? (as I have 12 melon plants and 12 cantaloupe plants and that could get a little on the costly side). The Charleston Grey and Jubilee plants are running right along and are starting to flower up. The pumpkin I planted also seems to be doing quite well. The Eggplant is coming right along and have lots of flowers and I am getting ready to pick the first one. There's probably something I've missed but thats all for now. I may take some pics and post them later as I have to say that being a first time gardener I am rather proud of the way its coming along. I hope everyone is having the same luck I am.

I've got lots and lots of plants from that family growing. They seem to do really well for me when planted in mounds of mushroom compost and provided with good drip irrigating to keep the roots moist and cool. Only struggles I seem to have with them is potassium deficiency which tends to make them more prone to powdery mildew and I'm trying to combat with maxicrop. I have also had some trouble with caterpillars, vine borrers and squash bugs (actually several types of bugs in the same general group squash bugs, stink bugs, and leaf footed bugs) but there is little to be done about them. The caterpillars I can battle with thruicide. The main problem I'm guessing for your poor little squash might be the vine borrers. They can kill off a whole plant pretty quickly. The moth (or whatever it is) lays an egg near the base of the plant or along the stem. When the larva hatches it eats into the stem and then eats along the inside of the stem killing any part of the plant above the larva within the stem. They can cause really quick death of a plant if they start boring in near the base of the plant. You may find a hole near where a leaf meats the stem and if the whole plant isn't already dead, you can use a pin to stab the larva inside the stem or just split open the stem to find the larva and kill it so it can't develop and re-produce. BT or thuricide isn't very effective against vine borrers since they only eat a small hold into the stem and then are safe inside the plant. BT only really works if the caterpillar eats the stuff. The comments about the sun are good. Most squash and cucs I've known don't like complete full day sun though I have some doing ok in mounds of mushroom compost with drip irrigation in my back yard (however they were direct seeded and not transplants.)