First ones down: Zucchini and Squash

Would you look at the verdant glory of this garden!
You'd never know it was being eaten alive, now would you?

We've taken quite a hit on the ol' garden in the last couple of days. We began noticing that our zucchini and squash were looking droopy in the heat of the day despite being well watered. The culprit: Squash Borers. A wasp-like insect lays eggs on the stalk of the plant and when they hatch the hungry larvae bores into the stalk, feasting on the flesh and making it impossible for the plant to take up water.

Robbie read that if the infestation is minor it's possible to make a small cut in the stalk and dig the little suckers out, so we began doing that, but it quickly became evident that we were far outnumbered. It's amazing to us that the plants were even alive at all, because the entire stalk of each plant was completely occupied by the borers. How rude!

Are you wondering what in the world they look like? Well wonder no more!

Think those little white things are the inside of the plant? They're not. Eww.

Looks pretty empty, doesn't it?

So far so good on the rest of the stuff, but we're keeping a sharp eye for pests. And in the empty spaces we'll be looking for new things we can grow.