Pest Management

Squash Vine Borer

~ McArtor ~ 1 Comment

All curcurbits: gourds, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash and occasionally cucumbers and melons are hosts to the squash vine borer.

I used row covers before the squash plants flowered to prevent pests, but the following actions described in the book, Good Bug, Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser may have prevented  my recent vine borer attack:

    •  Mound soil over the stem up to the lower-most flower to eliminate egg laying surface area and encourage root development.
    •  Wrap a strip of aluminum foil around the plant base early in the season, to prevent adults from laying eggs on the stem.  Nestle the foil just below the  soil surface, reaching up to the lowermost leaf.
squash vine borer in one of our squash stems

We could try and save the plants by cutting the stem and digging out the vine borer larva, then covering the cut stem with dirt.  But,  I learned my lesson, next summer I will remember, “mound and wrap.”

Toad in Our Tomato Bed

~ McArtor ~ 1 Comment

Saturday, while we worked in the garden fertilizing, weeding and securing our unruly tomato plants, we met a new garden friend.  My husband met him first when he crawled underneath the tomato plants to clip off the discolored tomato sucker branches.    He rested his hand on the black plastic below one tomato plant and felt the cool cover beat against his palm.   Startled, he lifted one edge of the plastic and saw two eyes staring back at him. “We got a toad,” he announced.


My son and I rushed over to greet our critter friend.   He did not move at all while I photographed him.  His body looked moist and well fed.   He had the perfect toad hideout in our garden – a shelter with water from the drip system and plenty of insects.   We welcomed him to our garden plot, told him to bring friends, promised him we’d watch our step around the tomatoes, then covered him back up with the plastic. My son named him “Toady.”

Toads help rid the garden of pests, including insects, slugs and snails. They can eat over 10,000 insects in one summer! Have a feast in our garden, Toady!