2011 garden Glendale, AZ (duhh) planted 2-13-2011

Duhh, My new DustBuster has been a great tool. Dump contents into soapy water.

duhh wrote:

Sanderson: Squash bugs are my worst enemy in the garden!

Spray water at the base of the plant.  They will then climb up the plant to dry off.  Then grab them with a gloved hand and squish or use a dust buster rechargeable vacuum cleaner to suck them up.

yolos wrote:

duhh wrote:

Sanderson: Squash bugs are my worst enemy in the garden!

Spray water at the base of the plant.  They will then climb up the plant to dry off.  Then grab them with a gloved hand and squish or use a dust buster rechargeable vacuum cleaner to suck them up.

 We have developed a game that the mancub and his friends love. I flood the squash plant area. then when they climb to the top I grab them with my gloved hands and throw them to the boys.. they then proceed to smash them with a hammer or rubber mallot! We call it squash a bug and they love it! 

Has anyone noticed that they smell like that fake green apple candy when they are smooshed? totally ruined those suckers with the caramel in the middle for me. or any candy that is green apple. Kinda turns my stomach now!

Between smash a bug, using tape to get the eggs off or tearing off the leaves I can usually keep them under control If I have the time too keep up on them! Also, I stopped growing pumpkins because they seem to really love that plant!

duhh wrote:

Between smash a bug, using tape to get the eggs off or tearing off the leaves I can usually keep them under control If I have the time too keep up on them! Also, I stopped growing pumpkins because they seem to really love that plant!

Ditto on the pumpkins.  I never saw squash bugs in the garden until I planted the pumpkins.  I no longer plant pumpkins.

Learned a valuable lesson this year! Your watering system is only good if it's hooked up and there are no kinks in the hose!

  In late June my garden started looking pretty bad... not just 1 or 2 types of plants, but the whole thing! I was really busy with the rest of my life and so it took me a few days to realize that I hadn't hooked the watering system back up after detaching it to water the fruit trees! I quickly hooked it back up and pushed the button on the timer to water it that night. It sounded like it was working. Left for a quick get away, came back a few days later to an almost completely dead garden! It had been 114 and the hose had a kink in it! The beautiful bell peppers and tomatoes were practically oozing off the dry stalks of the plants!

The only things that kinda survived were the few tomato and pepper plants that I had over wintered. They must have had a deeper root system that could still get some water.

That was my lesson for the summer of 2015! Pay attention!!

The good thing is I can clear our all my plants, check over the water system, top off my beds, and get ready for fall planting. I will start lettuce, spinach, kale, and peas inside for transplant in the next couple of weeks. Today I'm starting squash to see if I can get a fall harvest out of them, and also brussel sprouts(they take soooo long to grow) for the fall.

   Hope everyone else is having a great summer growing season!! I'm pretty much out for another month or so!

Sorry to hear of your watering snafu there. 114 degrees is intense; not much loves that.

Too bad you can't automate the whole thing, fruit-tree watering included.

Duhh, I'm so sorry about your irrigation system. That's a good lesson for everyone. Mel recommends hand watering to ensure that each square is getting the water it needs. That said, auto systems are great for going out of town, making sure the plants are getting "some" water, and large gardens for the working and child raising ages. We had a mini-blackout that reset the auto watering system to off-days and off-hours. If we weren't retired, we may not have caught it in time to prevent a fine.

I like your attitude of making lemonade. Cleaning the beds and getting ready for fall planting.

Not to go too far off topic, but the more I grow bush beans, the more I like the idea of automated watering. It's pretty difficult to get a watering spout deep into a square of bush beans at all, much less do so without breaking anything and without having the water gush out and pour a hole through the soil. And the more bean squares surrounding the one you're trying to water, the harder it gets.

Bush beans have many features that would benefit from auto-watering and make hand-watering tricky: dense planting per square; wide-spreading, lush growth from top to bottom; and delicate branches.

I water by hand, but dislike it more and more every year and am pretty convinced by now it's the wrong choice for a great many gardens.

We tried the hand watering but i just couldnt get enough water to the plants during our hot summer months.Also, with such a large garden, watering twice a day in the summer took way to long! With the automatic watering our tomatoes dont crack nearly as much and all the plants are much happier. .... As long as they actually get the water!

I might have to break down and pay for the professional water system for the whole yard... It's just complicated with all the different kinds of trees and plants!

Marc: i can see what you mean about the beans.. I tried to grow them when i was hand watering and they did awful. I am thinking maybe it was the watering that was the problem. I might try them again next year!

Just a quick update! Winter garden is in with lettuce, spinach, kale, broc, cauliflower, brussel sprrouts, all doing awesome.
  We have also started our seedlings for peppers and tomatoes. We are currently building a temp green house. Covering a cattle panel with thick plastic to help keep plants warmer during the nights. Hopefully it works and doesn't fall over on them! Our last frost is usually around feb 14th here!


side view of the garden! I have lettuce and marigolds popping up all over outside the boxes this year! I was able to transplant 20 lettuce from outside of the garden this year! Awesome! Also pictured is my new fav tool. A little tractor seat on wheels with a little bucket to hold tools on the bottom. So cute!


front view of the garden. To the right is where we are trying to build the "green house"

tomatoes and tomatillos getting new pots today!

Love the pictures!  Makes me excited about getting some seeds going next month.  And love your Pitties in your avatar!  I had a Staffy Bull and Am Staff, great pets.  Lost both to different types of cancer.  Very sweet, gentle dogs, gotta socialize generationally!  Now own a mutt, 1/2 black lab, 1/2 Jack Russell.  The dominant trait is the terrier,  lol!

Oh, we have a PETS thread.....Marc had puppies and we all wanted to share. Sorry for being off-topic.

Duhh, I have always loved the photos of your desert garden. I think this is the first one I've seen of your winter garden. Well done!

VERY nice, Duhh!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Love the pictures!  Makes me excited about getting some seeds going next month.  And love your Pitties in your avatar!  I had a Staffy Bull and Am Staff, great pets.  Lost both to different types of cancer.  Very sweet, gentle dogs, gotta socialize generationally!  Now own a mutt, 1/2 black lab, 1/2 Jack Russell.  The dominant trait is the terrier,  lol!

Oh, we have a PETS thread.....Marc had puppies and we all wanted to share.  Sorry for being off-topic.

This pic is so old when they were puppies, but I love it!  The tan one is actually a boxer mix and the white/brindle is a staffy/dane mix, He is 85 lbs now. It is hard to keep them out of the garden, but as long as they don't destroy the whole thing we are all happy! 

Thanks sanderson! I think I usually skip july- feb picture wise! I usually get the most excited when the tomatoes go in!

Duhh, I do love my dogs! They are good company, and provide some comic relief! Lol

Duhh, Why don't you post your avatar and a newer photo of your dogs under our new Pet topic?