no more zukes...squash borers. weird cukes too...and a ton of jalapenos.

We've had an abundance of rains here lately. Every afternoon we have an hour of storms, at a minimum...EVERY day. I'm talking downpours here...not just a mere sprinkle. That's great since the majority of our state is in a serious drought. The water our local watershed produces supplies counties to the south as well so it only benefits all of us in the end.

Turns out that our zuke issue (not getting bigger) was lack of water...yes, even though I watered it daily, it was still not enough...since the rains started I started having 12" + zukes...unfortunately, since I am unwilling to use any pesticide I also got some bugs.

Squash vine borers are deadly to cucurbits and squash. They are moths that lay eggs on the fruit, which then hatch and bore into the vines and fruits. I knew I had an issue last week when I had to pull 3 pumpkin plants...I found ants inside the vines but something had to start that hole/tunnel. The zukes were looking weird too but I couldn't figure it out exactly. I strongly suspected vine borers but couldn't find any when I cut into some of the suspicious vines (holes along base) so I took a wait-and-see approach.

Three days ago I harvested a lovely zuke. It was about a foot long and substantial. It also had holes...bugs. Cutting into it I found two sizable borer worms. :(

Today I went out and found an 18" and a 12" zuke...but the plants looked wilty and just not so good. I pulled the fruit off and both had NUMEROUS holes plus eggs all over the outside.

In the spirit of saving the rest of my garden (pumpkins) I pulled all my zuke plants. Production was not what it should be and the borers had taken hold. This is a learning experience and I'll study for next year what I can do to prevent it (besides pesticides...)
















Further, I think my lemon cukes and vining/bushmasters are cross polinating. I've been seeing some interesting phenomenon in my cukes...the bushmasters are round with undeveloped pointy ends. My only explanation is that perhaps they cross polinated. I'm also having reduced production from all the green cukes, just in time for the lemon cukes to take over LOL...There is also a weird look to the regular vining cukes now...not sure what it is but we're not eating these.

















I finally harvested a bell pepper, waiting for it to turn red was just not happening and I don't know why. The rest of the plant was not producing so I figured I'd just harvest it so the plant could make more peppers.

The jalapeno plants are in overdrive...this is just a fraction of what I've got on the plants.














My tomatoes are still not ripe but we're getting there.

The lemon cukes are going to take over my yard...they're producing at insane rates...















This is the garden as it was today, after removing the zuke plants. I'll be planting some fall/winter seeds soon...not sure what, I'm going to chat with Christy & Kelley about that...

I fully realize that the issues I've had (eggplant, borers) could be solved/prevented with various pesticides but it was my intention to have a (mostly...) organic garden. I did use a wee bit of Miracle grow early on but everything else has been all natural. I've learned a TON from my plants this year...and even just one harvest of anything (I've had dozens of cukes, beans, peas and about 7 zukes that were edible) paid for my seeds/plants.

The lessons I'm learning will only help for next year :)

Lemon Cucumbers!

I've been waiting IMPATIENTLY for my lemon cucumbers to be ready for harvest. IMPATIENTLY. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cucumbers of any variety and had never heard of lemon cukes before I found the seed pack this past winter. I've watched them grow with interest and impatience since it seems my bushmaster (pickle-esque) and burpless vining (long and skinny) cucumbers have been producing for weeks.

Here they are the vine just before harvest...I have a few more that will be ready tomorrow and the day after:















After harvest:
















They're in the fridge now, cooling off for munching this evening. This occasion may call for a new batch of salsa ;)

Speaking of salsa, in another 2 days I'll have more jalapenos than I can possibly eat. I need to buy several more bunches of cilantro (I have 3 in the fridge waiting) and cans of tomatoes (since my romas are still green.) I'll be making salsa and putting it up for later because I just have waaaay too many peppers growing. Nice problem to have after my worry a few weeks ago!

These are sweet yellow bells growing:














Last night I made fajita chicken with some of the sweet peppers I harvested this week. So far I have one bell almost ready but it's supposed to be red and is still green...I'm trying to be patient!

And then we have the interesting tomato dilemma. I found a baby tomato earlier today (did not photograph it) that had blossom end rot. Then this afternoon I found this one on a different plant. Seems perhaps I needed more water a couple weeks back (based on my reading this problem is either caused by drought or lack of calcium in the soil...I'm saying drought since I was complaining to my Mom about the zukes not growing and then after several days of heavy rain went out to discover an 18" zucchini the other day...I harvested it together with a 12" zuke and we made bread :)

lots and lots of peppers...and a weird bug?

I visit my garden every day...sometimes I go out to say hi more than once in a day. It's always amazing to me how the plants change even just from morning to night.

Today I went to visit the garden and found a visitor...he was a HUGE green caterpillar of some variety. He was also quite rude...note the spike on his tail. He tried to get me with it...pesky guy.

Does anyone reading know what he is? Please let me know if you do. He was just over 3" long and fat as a marker.

(ETA he is a Tomato Hornworm...and I apparently need to go check for more of them.)

I suppose the worry I had over my tomatoes and peppers was unfounded...they are proving to be rather fecund lately. The tomato plants are as tall as me (I'm 5'4") or taller and the jalapenos are producing so many peppers I'll soon be eating poppers :D

I'm in need of recipes for sweet peppers...please share!

The zucchini are giving me an interesting issue...they are not getting very big. I tried leaving them on the vine and they rot so I have started cutting them off when they are about 7" long. They don't get any wider than the vines though...which seems odd to me. They taste ok...but they are narrow. My mom said her friends suggested lack of water. I'm not sure about that since you can see how large the plants are. They are taller than my 5yo son and have very prolific foilage. I'd think lack of pollination except that the cukes in the next bed have a ton of bees every morning (and are producing more cukes than I can eat.)

lemon cukes:

HUGE zuke plants:

typical zuke growth...

Ideas?

The pumpkin plants I sprouted last month are HUGE. They're grabbing everying in sight and spreading like mad. They all have blossoms now so it won't be long before we have pumpkins growing!

pumpkin blossoms:

The watermelon plants didn't do much. I'm disappointed but will try some other things next year. They weren't in the sunniest of locations initially so I am sure that impacted their growth.