Squash Vine Borer

I should stop asking if anything else could go wrong.  Of course it can!   This garden is getting the best of me this year, but I'm a fighter.  I pulled a wilted stem off my zucchini plant tonight, and guess what?  A big white grub was inside the base stem.  I have noticed some orange powdery stuff around the base, but didn't think it was important.  Apparently it is.  It's a squash vine borer!!!  YAY!  Now that it's identified, it will be destroyed.  Maybe I should go back to the ground soaking sprinklers.  That seemed to work better last year. 

Tomato Hornworms

I've had my fair share of pests this year.  I still haven't caught any raccoons, although I haven't had any more problems with them either. 
My newest pest is the Tomato Hornworm.  I found one chewing a bald stalk of a pepper plant, and then 3 more on the actual tomato plants.  Fortunately, I have one big tomato plant and that's where they were.  I picked the buggers off and haven't seen any more. 

My tomatoes are funny this year.  I have one HUGE plant that is being supported by a broom stick, in the far corner of my east garden, and then 4 little plants that are producing, but not a lot.  My Big Boy is growing a beautiful tomato.  Emphasis on a.  There's just one.  And the plant is small, I don't know how it's going to support itself!  Many tomatoes are starting, and the waiting for them to blush is hard as the whole garden is a bummer this year.

I also harvested all my yukon gold potatoes, and some reds.  They were small so I left the rest of the reds to grow a little.  We had a mixed potato meal last night and it was SOOOO good. 

Early Berries

This week was peak Blueberry picking.  Early for Michigan, but we've had such weird weather I'm thankful we got any at all.  We ended up picking 9 pounds, and bought 20.  Many pounds have been eaten, and I want to make that cake again.  The Blue Gold we got from Palmers were very sweet and the Gold Barn we picked were also good, but very stemmy.  I don't remember the pre-picked berries having so many stems, but they are still good. 

Snake in the Grass

Tuesday night when I went to the garden to get lettuce for dinner, there was a snake caught in the fence.  It was struggling and had woven it's head in and out of the mesh on the fence.  It wasn't pretty and the fence was also stuck in it's jaw.  After I panicked and called Steve, we decided to let the snake try to get free himself.  My Dad was coming the next day, and he said he could remove it, but it'd probably be dead by then.  That made me sad. 

I was talking to my M-I-L, and mentioned the snake, and she said the neighbor boy loves snakes.  She called him over and he got the snake free!  He stuck his hand right in it's mouth and cut it free.  It slithered away and probably died, but at least not in my fence!  We determined it was a Hognose Snake, which eats frogs, and it was a big one. 

In other news, the fence is really working.  The chipmunks are still frolicking, and they're not all dead.  My beans, however, are not there.  I have one soybean plant.  Everything else is not worth it.  All the lettuce and spinach was harvested and delicious.  Cucumbers were eaten before they grew, but we ate a zucchini for lunch.  After 3+ days in this heat wave, the garden is growing fast and needing lots of water!   No pictures lately, but I'm pleased with how the fence is working.  I feel like I've put a lot of work into the garden this year, and for the last 10 days I haven't touched it, beside harvesting and watering.  I think I'm burned out a little.  It's all good though.