Bounitful Harvest

Before the nasty buggers got my plants I was able to harvest some pumpkins and watermelon. The tomatoes are coming in by the basketful, and so delicious! Now that I have 10 less plants to water I have graduated to buckets with holes in the bottom for watering. They hold more water and the plants are already showing an improvement. The top picture of the watermelon is one that grew between the slats on the pallet and grew into the shape of an 8. It was ready the day I took this picture but had nothing to cut the slat with to get it out. Unfortunately I had missed my window of opportunity, when I returned the next day the watermelon had burst or been broken by someone or something. We were able to get one of these varieties that had orange flesh, it was delicious!

Sad News

 The heat, lack of nutrients in the soil, vine borers and squash bugs have claimed the lives of 3 Zucchini plants, 4 pumpkin plants, and one Watermelon plant :-( Although we were lucky to get a harvest from each plant before their demise, I am very upset about this garden defeat. I continue to remind myself this is a test plot and a learning process for next year.  This heat, lack of water and lack of soil nutrients made these plants vulnerable to the attack. I have learned a lot about farming and pesticides, the more stressed a plant is the more susceptible to bugs, therefore the more we use pesticides. Apparently the squash bugs and vine borers are a common malaise of cucurbita family in this area. Part of the planning for next years garden will involve their prevention and management. Any suggestions, tricks and advice is welcome.