Free Advice!

The rain continues. It does look like it's clearing up today, but in the meantime, there is very little to blog about. I found one caterpillar on a Brussels sprout leaf that I must have missed yesterday. I fed it to Pearl.

Fortunately, I've accumulated enough street cred (somehow) for people to actually start asking for advice rather than offering it unsolicited.

A valued reader writes:

Any tips for getting zucchini to grow without grubs attacking the roots. Every time I get them to flower they die due to grub rot. 

Signed, 

Breakfast taco-less in Missoura' 

(on What could happen to an Old Fashioned?!)

Well, Taco-less, first of all, I empathize with your more significant problem, the lack of breakfast tacos outside of Texas. Of all the culinary contributions Texas has made to an undeserving world (BBQ brisket, Tex-Mex, Bluebell ice cream, Dr. Pepper), I think most would agree that the elegantly simple breakfast taco is right at the top of the list. I can't fathom how the combination of eggs, cheese, and what-have-you, all wrapped in a flour tortilla, has not caught on outside the Lone Star State. Maybe it's the lack of suitable flour tortillas.

Wonderful examples of breakfast tacos, for those of you out there who have trouble visualizing such a complex dish

As far as your gardening question goes, it sounds like you have a squash bug problem. Squash bugs burrow into the base of the squash plant just above the roots and eat the plant from the inside out. Once they attack, your squash are pretty much done for.

Full disclosure, I have never had any luck whatsoever growing any kind of squash, including zucchini. One year it was squash bugs, another it was a drought that killed every vegetable in the garden except my okra (okra laughs in the face of a summer drought daring the temperature to stay above 100 degrees for four months). So, I just gave up and had a drink.

All that said, I do think I solved the squash bug problem in the drought year. I forget where I heard this idea, but it works surprisingly well. Simply lay something near the squash plant for the squash bugs to hide under during the heat of the day, a small piece of a 1x6 works perfect. The squash bugs will appreciate the gesture (not enough to lay off your squash unfortunately) and hangout under the board to get out of the sun. So, around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, fix yourself a drink, go outside, lift your 1x6 (careful not to spill any of your cocktail), and indiscriminately smash any bug you find kicking its heals up when it should be doing something useful in the middle of the workday.

I have no pictures of squash, squash bugs, or cocktails appropriate for squash bug smashing (use your judgement) so I'll just leave you with some pictures of recently bloomed flowers.

Lily-of-the-Nile

A rose

I have no idea. A relative of honeysuckle? It just started growing in the middle of my morning glories, and, always one for surprises, I let it grow. I don't know if I planted some seed without remembering (a gardening blackout) or if it's some native that just decided it liked the look of this flower bed.