More three-lined potato beetles (adults)

Have been seeing more three-lined potato beetle adults on the central patch ground cherries the past few days.  Have been relocating them. Haven't seen larvae from this round yet, though it's hard to see the whole plants because of all the squash leaves surrounding them.

Uh oh -- best zucchini plant's new leaves look wrong. SVB damage already?

Uh oh -- best zucchini plant's (the most productive one north of the gas meter) new leaves look wrong.  They look like they're curling inward, not healthy.

SVB damage starting already?  It would be on par with the timing of last year's demise starting...

Looked at the stem but couldn't see a hole, but it's big and twisty and full of cut-off zuke stems, easy to miss.

Another SVB moth seen today

Saw another SVB moth today, sitting on the ground cherry in the central patch.  Boooo.

Cucumber beetles galore

So many of them, mostly on the squashes but also some on the cucumbers.

Noticed the occasional one a few weeks ago.  Hadn't done anything about them until today when I realized they're killing the flowers so there won't be much fruit.  So, now am relocating them.  Harder to catch, but not that hard.

Swallowtail butterfly seen

Saw what I'm pretty sure was a black swallowtail butterfly fluttering around the garden, from one plant to another, staying nowhere longer than a second or two, even the parsley wasn't that interested in.

Japanese beetles in full swing

Japanese beetles have been in full swing the past week or so. 

Their favourites are:

- peas
- beans
- zinnias

They don't seem to be interested in anything else.

Capturing and relocating.

Saw two more SQB moths flying around

Saw two more SQB moths flying around.  Didn't have time to look for more eggs.

Self-seeders

These are some things that have popped up on their own this year:

- a Malabar spinach!!

- tomato plants

- cilantro

- several ground cherries (so far still tiny)

Winter squash fruiting update

Jumbo pink banana:  One definitely took, and it grew quickly at first, but now it seems to have really slowed (stopped?).  Two or three am waiting to see if they took.  A good number of other fruits getting ready to flower.

Butternut:  Will it be a flop crop?  So far, only one that is looking decent:  One the vertical frame; hasn't flowered yet.  Three or four others were very early fizzlers (pre-flowering and while still tiny).  The vines in the central plot are very prolific but nothing looking very promising at this point.

Pea harvest pretty much over

Just a few last peas on the vine to grow a little more, then it will be over.  Vines have started dying.

It was a good harvest.  Scooter enjoyed it too.

SVB eggs!!!! and worm!!!! and mystery hole!!!!!! and 2 more adults!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Argh!!!!!

Spent close to an hour diligently inspecting the zucchinis (mostly the younger, less bushy ones) and parts of the winter squashes, picked off about 20 eggs.  Most of the eggs were on the stems of the leaves.  One or two were on ... a flower; a main vine; a baby zuke.  I don't think any were on leaves.  Removed them.  Most were solo eggs, though there was small spaced out "cluster" of ~5.

Then, I arrive at the old zukes and what do I see:  not one, but two adults flying around, laying more eggs!  At least I was able to have visual confirmation that what I thought were the eggs, were indeed.  They are very tiny, size of a pinhead.  The adults fly around high and low, right to the low stems/vines under all the leaves.  A single adult lays many eggs :-((((((

And, while looking for eggs, I happened to find a tiny worm (on top of a leaf or stem, can't remember which), which I can only imagine is an egg that hatched.

And, noticed an actual hole but no frass, on the solo bigger young zuke near the air conditioner.  Used a knife to slit and try to find a worm, but didn't find one.  Will the plant survive my knife?

Found some good articles:

http://groweat.blogspot.com/2015/07/squash-vine-borer-educational.html

https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/squash-vine-borer-vegetables

https://blackgold.bz/beating-squash-vine-borers/ (good photo of tan frass)

Some varieties that may be less susceptible, for next year (https://homeguides.sfgate.com/squash-resistant-squash-vine-borer-77620.html):

- yellow crookneck

- Waltham butternut

- green-striped cushaw

- hubbard

- cucuzzi

-

Squash vine borer wasp seen among squash!!!!!

Oh no!  Saw an unmistakable squash vine borer wasp flying in and out of the squash today (central patch).  Red/black with those three dots.

I had removed the floating row cover from the other central part several weeks ago,

and,

the zucchinis near the kitchen door had outgrown their floating row cover in the past week or two so the cover had been loosely flying over it with many leaves coming out from under it.

The only benefit I can think of from my late start zucchinis is that I'll be able to much more easily inspect the stem for damage, since those plants are so much smaller / less bushy.

What can I do now for the bigger plants though?  Way too many leaves/stems to inspect for eggs.

Pea harvest in full swing

Pea harvest has been in full swing the past week or so.

Seems to be two different kinds of snap peas:  a lighter green which is less sweet (icicle?) and darker green more sweet (typical sugar snap?).

Container tomatoes officially look terrible

All three of them.  Leaves rusted, yellow-tinged, shrivelly.  Booo.  Even the one in the really big pot.

Two of the three planted tomatoes are looking great.  The other isn't thriving.

Small black/mottled non-jumping beetles found on underside of tomato leaf

Small black/mottled non-jumping beetles found on underside of tomato leaf (one of the potted tomatoes).  Can't figure out what they are.  An equal number of tiny white eggs were also on the underside of this leaf, presumably they hatched from the eggs.  They don't seem to be actually eating the leaf.

A few ground cherries harvested

Have harvested a few ground cherries so far.  Two or three every few days.

Removed floating row cover from west "row" of center bed

Went to adjust the row cover from the west "row" of the center bed, and it broke all over.  Couldn't even hold onto it without it breaking apart.  Pretty sure this was the dollar store variety.  So, just removed it.

For now, still have cover over the eastern central bed, and over the three zukes by the kitchen door.

Found three-lined potato beetle larvae eating ground cherry plants

Aha!  On June 10th I had found a three-lined potato beetle adult and some eggs on a nearby leaf. Today, I happened to notice some chewed leaves on a ground cherry plant, looked closer, and sure enough found several larvae eating leaves.  Found them on several of the plants, particularly the southern central one, and some on the north central one and the one by the compost.  Can't remember if I found any on the other two plants.

While looking for them, also found more eggs on the undersides of leaves.

Relocated all larvae/eggs found.

It's definitely this species, as they clearly were carrying their droppings on their back.  I don't think I've ever seen this type of insect before.

The plants look only minimally affected, should hopefully make a full recovery.

First zucchini harvest

First zucchini harvest of the year:  One nice size yellow zucchini as well as a smaller yellow one that was a bit older but whose growth had stopped.  Both on the same plant, the northern of the three by the kitchen door.

Harvested garlic scapes

Harvested most of the scapes today, and made scape pesto with them.

- scapes
- walnuts
- nutritional yeast
- walnuts
- salt, pepper,
- lemon juice

Just getting over a cold so couldn't taste the full flavour.