That First Flush


 I love going out into the garden and seeing the first flush of goldy-orange on the pumpkins.  The vines/leaves look pretty good here, but I'm pretty sure the vine borers are getting to the pumpkin vines.  I just don't have the wherewithal to fight them.  They say you can use a syringe to inject BT into the base of the vines to kill off the grubs, but after spending hours chasing squash bugs I just don't have time to go around injecting all the vines.  I let the vines root into the ground as they grow, which helps the vines survive longer, but as the bugs continue to propagate they just keep going after the vines more and more.  Ugh.  I am hoping I get a few pumpkins at least though.  

One thing I have learned is that the squash bugs and the vine borers prefer the pumpkin vines over the cucumbers or cantaloupe vines.  It is the strangest thing.  The other day I found over 30 squash bugs on the pumpkins vines,  but very few in either of the other.  And last night it was the same deal; fewer bugs, but the ones that were there were on the pumpkin vines, I don't think there were even any eggs on the cantaloupe leaves.  I saw a YouTube video that a variety of pumpkin, called Seminole, is resistant to squash bugs.  If I do pumpkins next year I might hunt down some of those seeds and try that variety.  

 


Yesterday morning this sunflower was still yawning, as it were, before opening fully.  I had gone out much earlier than usual and caught it in the process of opening up.  I love catching unusual, fun pictures like this.

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The past few days have been busy.  We had Vacation Bible School at church and I helped in the kitchen.  Yesterday it was an all day picnic...well, from 10-4pm, so that took up the bulk of the day.  Today is church.  So tomorrow early I have to pick and shell the shelly beans.  I hope not many of them have mildewed.  This summer has been so wet and humid that I've had things mildew; like small cucumbers and tiny pumpkins.  It has definitely been a learning curve this summer.

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