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| Zucchini plants guarded by red Solo cup barriers. |
Gardening requires love, patience, work, and the right attitude. It requires that you relinquish a little control, and understand that you cannot predict the future.
I spent a bit of my day worrying about squash vine borers. Last year, all my cucurbits—cucumbers, squash, butternut, and melons—were decimated by vine borers. I didn't even know what they were at the time, but quickly learned that they are the bane to any squash farmer's existence.
With that worry on my mind, I began Googling. I looked up exactly how toxic Sevin dust—the only insecticide that will keep the moths from laying eggs on my squash plants—would be to my garden and for my dog. Hmm, that seems wrong for me, doesn't it?
I made a commitment when we began our backyard raised beds to go at it organically. After all, part of the joy in our gardens is the assurance that, by growing our own food, we are having a positive impact on our environment and on our health.
Chemical pesticides aren't the answer to my gardening worries. I can't control vine borers or the moths that lay them.
For the time being, I will rest assured, knowing that each of my squash plants is lovingly planted in its own little red Solo cup (bottoms cut out; it's a borer-avoiding tip from an expert at the Natural Gardener) and gets dusted twice a week with a dose of bacillus thuringiensis, which is totally safe for pets and humans.
My mom's advice to me is this: "If it grows, it grows."
That advice reminds me daily to step back and understand that much of this is out of my control. I will hope for squash, and will rue the day (should it come) that vine borers attack, but ultimately I will be grateful for whatever the garden decides to give me.
How do you find peace and balance in your garden?
4 comments:
Keep us updated on whether the cups and the bacillus thuringiensis keep the borers away - I have given up on the squash family because mine die every year!
I stare lovingly at the caterpillars I want in my garden, snip the rest in half, and relocate roly polies to the compost bin. I fill the bird bath and have seeds out to attract cool birds and tolerate the white-winged dove and pigeons nesting in the gutters ;-) It's tough out there.
A tip I learned when fighting squash vine borers last year was to lay pieces of foil around each plant. I also learned that the solo cups work for cut worms, not the borers. I wrote a short article about several different squash pests at http://homesteadingstewards.com under the gardening category. Hope yours are doing well!
A tip I learned when fighting squash vine borers last year was to lay pieces of foil around each plant. I also learned that the solo cups work for cut worms, not the borers. I wrote a short article about several different squash pests at http://homesteadingstewards.com under the gardening category. Hope yours are doing well!
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