I grew acorn squash last year in +/- 30 gallon plastic construction tubs (used for mixing cement, etc). Drill plenty of holes in the tubs and elevate on bricks to aid the drainage and use a good soil mix that won't get too compacted (VERY important!). I over-planted and started with 3 per pot but thinned later to 2 per. The plants turned out to be 2 vining and 2 semi-bush, I think. That's probably because the seeds were saved from a squash I bought for eating. This year I'm going to try purchased seed of a semi-bush variety. I'd actually have preferred a true vining type to take advantage of the trellissing but the variety is limited here in Holland. For growing in pots I don't think you could get more than 1 per pot of the true bush types because they'd block each others' light too much. Maybe someone else can help with that info. I placed the pots about 2-3 feet from a fence and leaned 4 x 6 foot plain metal garden-fence trellis panels from the base of the pot to the stockade fence. The holes in the trellis were about 6 inches square. As the squash or pumpkin grows you will need to gently guide the vines toward the trellis and upwards. Squash aren't natural climbers even though they do put out anchor tendrils (suckers?) that will twine around the trellis. Use either coated wire, clips or fabric to loosly tie the vines up. The thicker the anchors the better, as the stalks are hollow and break or bend easily. This year I found some thick foam coated wire specially for tying up plants and it should work well. Last year I used plastic C clips and moved them as needed to areas that needed support. The suckers will help anchor the vines but aren't super strong so you can't rely on them alone to keep the plant on the trellis, especially once the fruit gets bigger. One of the plants really took off and ended up growing along the top of the stockade fence, which was fine with me! I didn't bother tying it up a lot at that point, just looped it around so it would stay put. My plants last year didn't produce a whole lot. I had trouble with blossom end rot and later from mildew. But when the fruits did start to form I gently guided them through the holes of the trellis so that they hung on the back side of it. So the vines and leaves were on the outside of the trellis and the fruit had plenty of room to grow on the fence side. The bushier plants didn'd need any support until later in the summer and I used some 1.5 foot high shelving units from a small portable greenhouse to support the short vines with fruit that grew over the side of the pots. Anything about the same height as the pot should work, like a plastic deck chair or something. I just was afraid that the vine would break if it just hung over the side with a squash dangling in mid-air. It was great fun and a good experiment, growing these. We made a big event out of eating the 2 biggest squash and then enjoyed the little ones in a nice stir-fry.... :^D Hope you have as much fun. Susanne

If the stem that attaches the squash to the vine is withered looking and tough and the squash is dark green, IMHP, I would cut it off and EAT It. This may prod the vine to get producing. No, it is not unusual for plants to be all in different stages or to be mostly all in the same stage. The plant will grow until hard frost kills it.

You likely are seeing more because of the drought, but they are always there. Your garden is an ecosystem and ants merely are a part of the ecosystem. I just ignore them. They have a job to do and I assume they are doing it. I try to intervene in the natural ecosystem in my garden as little as possible. In a well-balanced ecosystem, the beneficial insects help control the pest insects a lot, so I leave them all alone as much as possible and let nature work the way it is supposed to. The only time I treat for ants is if I have fire ant mounds in the veggie garden, and I use an organic fire ant product for that. I will use borax-based ant traps if they come into the house, but they haven't come into our house yet this year. They are more prone to that that in a wet year than a dry year. Before organic fire ant killers became available on the commercial market, I tried to control fire ants in the dog yard and back yard/side yard by using a non-organic ant killer, but was never comfortable using it and would use it only once every 3 or 4 years. I haven't used a chemical fire ant killer since the organic ones became available. During drought all the pests flock to the area with the best ecosystem, meaning moisture and food. Still, they are there every year even if you don't notice them as much. It is just that there's more of them concentrated in certain areas during drought. When I want to deter ants from traveling in certain spots--like right beside the faucets or hydrants where I hook up the water hose, I spray a mixture of liquid peppermint soap/water on the ground. It repels them and causes them to move their pathway away from the sprayed area. I don't use it in the garden unless I can do so without getting any of the soap spray on the foliage. In this heat, soap spray can kill foliage quite easily. In the garden where I can't spray because of potential foliar damage, I sprinkle cinnamon (which I buy in huge containers at Sam's or CostCo) along the ants' pathway and they move elsewhere. I am surprised your tomatoes are cracking. Cracking usually occurs because of uneven moisture, and I tend to see it only after a big rainstorm or if I turn on the hose to water and forget to turn it off, thereby overwatering them and causing rapid growth in which the flesh grows faster than the skin and the skin cracks. If you'll pick your tomatoes at first blush and ripen them inside on the kitchen counter, their flavor is not impacted and you'll likely see little to no cracking. Any tomato left after first blush is likely to have issues with cracking, sunscald and pests. I think virtually everything that's "wrong" this year is because of the drought, but I don't necessarily put ants in that category. We have tons and tons of ants here every year, wet or dry. I don't know if imported fire ants have made it as far north as your place yet, but we have billions of them here. We also have the less aggressive native fire ants, sugar ants and tons of Harvester ants. I love the Harvester ants because they are a food source for one of my favorite little wild things---horned toads. We also have carpenter ants and oodles of other kinds. There's no way you won't have ants if your property is a healthy ecosystem because they are a necessary part of the ecosystem.

Thank you Skybird for the encouragement and kind words. I took your advice as the sky is looking quite dark and suspicious in this cooler weather so I dragged out the other plastic lawn chairs to tent over all that I could. And you're right the rain was the best part. We have had several good rains in the past few weeks. I put out some large buckets to catch the rain and they were filled to the brim. Trees look happy and the lawn which I refuse to water more than once a week is looking like it may come back to life. Steve, I checked out Ben's link you attached and I did not get it as bad as he did. Poor guy. We work so hard and then to have that happen is a bummer. Great life lessons in patience I say (whether we like it or not). Charlene