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 :)