at the Water's Edge


Living life and learning all I can along the way!
Squishing the Squash Bug

Squishing the Squash Bug

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I have squash growing in my garden this year.  I'm not sure what type, though.  They're volunteers of sorts, though I really hoped they'd be there.  Last year, after Halloween, I discarded all of our pumpkins and various squash and gourds into my garden to see what would happen.  I had quite a variety last year, too, if you recall my posts from Halloween and fall decorating.  The past couple years, we've just let our pumpkins rot out front where they were left after autumn came to an end (gross, I know), and we ended up with some little pumpkin plants growing around our front yard in various places.  They never grew big because it's not really an ideal environment for them.  But since they did sprout, I thought I ought to throw them in my garden last year to see if they might actually survive and even thrive there.



Lo and behold, this spring I found TONS of little squash plants growing all around my garden.  I gathered a few of them and planted them in one corner, and others I left where they were to see what would happen.  They seem to be growing pretty well, and have flowers on them.  However, I also remembered my ever-present foe who has destroyed my zucchini dreams the past couple years: the squash bug.  I saw one insect that resembled a squash bug hanging around my plants.  I saw him a few times before I was finally able to squish and kill him.  However, in the meantime I also discovered some eggs.  Last year, I know the bugs laid eggs on my zucchini plants because there were tons of baby bugs that suddenly appeared.  The bugs completely ravaged and killed my plants, severely limiting my squash harvest (and which resulted in my decision to not plant zucchini this year).  I decided to try a pro-active measure this year, to see if I could keep the squash bugs away, since I really want to see if a pumpkin will grow.  Ever since I saw the first eggs, I have been intently searching my plants for eggs every time I'm out in the garden, and I've been removing them.  My hope is that there really aren't that many squash bugs around (I've still only seen the one) and that by destroying any eggs I find I'll be able to avoid any squash bug infestation this year.


If I'm successful in that venture, I can only hope that there's enough room in the garden for some of these plants to actually produce whatever squash or gourd they came from.  I'm really hoping for pumpkins and swan gourds, because those are my favorite, and I know they were among the discards last fall.  Most of all, I just hope something grows!  I fear that they will overtake my other plants, but for now, I'm allowing them all to grow freely, and we'll see what happens!

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ABOUTME

Hi there! My name is Dana and I live in West Michigan with my husband, Tom and our dog Copernicus. I created this space as a place to share the things I learn along this journey I call life. I work in marketing and I'm a sort of Jane of All Trades, interested in all things nature, gardening, cooking, exploring and learning new things. This blog is a conglomeration of my interests, hobbies, life and life lessons. Thanks for stopping by!

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