Why would you want to? Even muddy, I think those leaves are helping the plant. That said, from time to time in the past I've had the need to snip off a squash leaf and it never seemed to hurt the plant too much. I suppose it diminishes the plant's resources and thus its fruit, but it was a trade off I was willing to make. I've also removed leaves that had squash vine borers in them and the plant didn't die from the damage. I prefer to slit the leaf stalk and get the borer out that way, but it doesn't always work. I know leaves aren't supposed to get mud on them lest they get disease, but before you cut them off, is there something else you can do like apply a clean mulch? Even a piece of cardboard under them would do the trick, getting the plant out of the mud. Some nice wood chips or a hay block would work too. Then rinse the leaves a bit and you're good to go. Mulch will help in a lot of other ways too.

The rodenator movies make me laugh. Unfortunately they are wicked expensive. I have not found a video where they use it on the woodchuck. but it obviously should work. I drop dog poop down the woodchuck holes and they leave. I can only guess they want to be clean and do not want the dog poop in their burrow. They do not want to walk over it. This does not really get rid of them since they are still alive and can dig another hole. But it does help in the immediate area. I also have a golden retriever dog running around that helps keep the burrows out of the yard anyway. I have my garden inside a fenced area where the dog can run. Unfortunately the dog steps on plants. not much real damage however. But I know just outside the fence is the land of the groundhogs. They rule the outside of the fence and my dog rules the inside hopefully. the groundhogs definitely go right through the fence. so it helps to let the dog out early in the morning and late toward dusk. Also keep them out as much as possible so they do not know there is anything inside the fence.

I guess alot depends on what your soil type is. If your digging a hole into primarily clay soil, you risk creating a "bathtub" effect. What happens here is that water runs into the path of least resistance (the nice compost hole) and then fills up that hole because it cannot drain properly through the clay surrounding it. The roots will be suffering if you get too much water. If it is dry, this won't be as much of a problem. You will need to ammend that compost to provide the necessary nutrients. Compost by itself will not have sufficient nutrient value for the large vines and you cannot count on much nutrient value in the ground surrounding it if it has been grass for more than a few years. Another challenge will be cutting the grass under the vines. Unless you have grown pumpkins before, you might be in for a bit of a shock as to how big they get. You can easily expect a well grown pumpkin vine to take up a circle of 15 feet in diameter quite easily. Unless you are cutting the vines with the lawnmower (then what is the point of growing them in the first place?) you are going to have a wild patch of prickly vines, leaves, flowers, fruit, weeds and grass. Pumpkin patches are not "tidy and attractive" unless you heavily, heavily mulch the area. It doesn't bother me, but my pumpkins grow in the garden out back. You may not really like how it looks on the lawn. If you still decide you want to do this, then I would think 1 plant per hole will be the best. There will be intense competition for water with the thick layer of turf, so spacing in a dry garden environment for pumpkins is usually 6 feet between hills. "But I will water the hole" you say "so I won't matter". This will provide the base with moisture yes, but the root system of the pumpkin is absolutely enormous. If it is extending into the surrounding ground, and the surrounding ground is topped with an established, matted turf, that ground under the turf will be quite dry. The roots will need to wander long and far looking for sufficient water and nutrients. When deciding where to plant pumpkings, just remember the old saying: where do you let a 500lb gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants to. The same applies for pumpkins: you can't just plop them anywhere and expect them to cooperate. Hope this helps, Michael

I can and did. How do I post a pic?? I had this mold last year on the zuc and cucs and they shrivled up and died....never gettting any veggies........ and I do not want it spreading to my beautiful other healthy plants. I just read a buch of posts and one person said that for sure is: 1 teaspoon of baking soda and one teaspoon of Murphy's Oil Soap mixed with a quart of water in a spray bottle, = Anyone ever use this???????