Changing Weather -- Mid October Update

Fall is Definitely Here!

And from the weather we've been having, lows in the low 40s and highs in the low 70's, you can tell winter is not far behind.  Last few mornings have definitely been sweater weather.

Okra

Since the last update, the okra has been doing a lot better.  The aphids are now under control, probably thanks to the ladybug and green lacewing population catching up to them and keeping them under control.  These plants are huge. Their  main trunk looks like a small tree trunk.  I've harvested lots of okra so far.  Been real good. I really like this variety of okra, "Emerald".  Some of the pods I have harvested have gotten real big (like 7-8" long) and the pods have still been edible.  Here are some that will be ready soon

And here are the plants.  Really pretty flowers too.  These plants take up a lot of space as they have spread out pretty far.   These six plants I put have given us as much as we want. so that's good note to remember for the future when trying to decide how much to plant, and remembering how much space to allocate for them.

Cool Weather Crops

Here are the mustard.  The are almost eating size now.  And right next to them are the turnips.  I think next week I'll start picking some of these for some "mixed greens" for dinner.

And here is the spinach. Had to cover a few more seedlings I set out to protect them from rats. Many of my small plants had been chewed to the ground.  I'm sure its been rats, as I have gone out at night and seen then scurrying  around.

The stinking rats ate many of my poor Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage plants.  You can see below some of the damage.

So I've had to put in many rat traps.  So far I've killed 2 rats.   I hate those things.  Last year I had the same problem too.  And 2 years ago they decimated my broccoli plants.  So frustrating!!!

Pumpkins

Finally getting a Rouge Vif dEtampes pumpkin to form. Its been frustrating that its been taking so long.  I'm not sure there will be enough time before the first freeze for it to mature. We'll see.  Hope this one gets good size.

In a few days I may try to gently shift it so its laying stem side up.  The other one I had this spring grew on it side and ended up looking lop-sided.   

The vines on the other side of the garden are not pretty much shaded over most of the day, so I don't have much hope for these. There is a small pumpkin that just started forming in this side, but I am not too hopeful.  Time's running out for these.

Speaking of pumpkins, I still have about 8 sugar pie pumpkins sitting in the pantry.  Yesterday I took a small one, and made these pumpkin scones.  I was inspired to make them after trying one at Starbucks, and I then I found this recipe : http://www.inspiredtaste.net/16810/spiced-pumpkin-scones-recipe/

They turned out really GOOD!! they were gone very quickly.  Unfortunately they are not the easiest thing to make.  I skimped a little on the icing, opting to go with only the spiced icing.

First Day of Fall

Can't believe its been over a month since I last posted!  Today was the official first day of Fall for 2013.  It was a beautiful day with high in the mid-80s and sunny weather.  Its been welcome relief from the hot dry weather we've had.  Summer was stubborn leaving, and we were in the upper 90s  for most of Sept so far.  Earlier this week we had a good soaking rain, and it brought in the cooler weather this weekend.  

Like I said earlier, here in N. Texas, we have 2 growing seasons.  The beginning of fall marks the beginning of the second growing season.  We have a good 2 months of good weather, and then by late Nov. we are likely to get our first frost.

Fall Plantings

I tried getting an early start in the beginning of Sept, but had mixed results.  I do almost all my plants from seeds. I am a very practical and frugal gardener, and would rather start from seed than spend $3 or so for a plant from the nursery... just doesn't seem that cost efficient.  

 I started many seeds indoors in small pots, since I was concerned about germination and the heat. I had a few lettuce plants come up, and I put them in the ground as soon as possible.  Many of them died, or got eaten by something once I transplanted them outside. I only have like 4 small plants that are still alive.   I  also sowed a few cabbage  and Brussels sprouts seeds indoors too.  I've had some difficulty getting good germination, and many of my seedlings have died while real small, (probably damping-off) so its been a bit frustrating getting them going.  So I put them into the ground while they were really small  and they have been growing pretty slowly.  I am guessing the heat has been affecting them, but hopefully they'll take off soon.   On the right are the cabbage plants, (next to a small okra which will probably shade the cabbages pretty soon... oops!!). And on the left are the Brussels sprouts. 

 Right below them I have a few mustard and turnip seedlings, These I directly sowed in the ground a couple weeks ago, and they are just starting to show their secondary leaves.  Since many of the turnips did not spout, there are many gaps between the plants, so I put in a few extra seeds yesterday in the hope that those come out and fill out the small rows.

I also started some spinach too.  I stared 2 batches. One was seed from last fall's seed packet I used, and the other was seed I saved from my plants this spring.  I put both in ziplock bags in wet paper towels. The saved seed sprouted real well, while the seed from last year's packet has not sprouted at all yet!  I've heard how short shelf-life the spinach seeds have, so that makes sense.   I planted the sprouted seeds in these small containers and will transplant when they get a bit bigger.  I put a few of the other sprouted seeds directly in the ground too, and will use these guys in pots to fill in holes here and there.  

I am also starting some herbs too.  These I intend to keep in their containers, since I don't have any space for them in the garden. In this first planter I have some basil and sage. Much of the basil came up but only one little sage plant has come up. I also have some Summer Savory in another container. 

 Here are a few more herbs I planted... More basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme.  They are tiny, especially the organo!  I tried planting them in the spring but all except the basil died. I think I watered too much, and they got damping-off and died, so hopefully I have better luck this time.

Okra

Last time I had talked about my Okra.  Its gotten really big but has been disappointing so far because of the lack of production.  

The plants are very big, and have huge leaves. But they've gotten attacked by a number of pests.  Some caterpillars have  attacked them but the wasps have been keeping them in check.  The worst by far has been the aphids.  They have been terrible, covering may of the young leaves and flowers.  I have seen some lady bugs and their larva, but there are so may aphids, its been overwhelming.  So I've begun blasting them with the sprayer on the hose, and also spraying them with soap spray.  I think I've made a good dent in their numbers.   Some of the leaves have also looked curled up and stunted.  Probably from the aphids and cucumber beetles.    

Squash

Hubbard Squash- I still have a few vines growing, but they have produced nothing recently, probably due to the heat.  Barely any male flowers either.  The heat plus the Squash Vine borers...  I've tried burying vines when possible, and the vines have been growing quickly but the older parts of the vines have all rotted. So the plants are surviving via their secondary roots.  I have debated just pulling it all out, but have decided to keep them and see what happens. Same with some of the old Rouge Vif D'etampes from the spring. I have a few runners still going.

Decided this week to crack open the big Hubbard from this early summer. Here is what it looks like inside:

Already make some soup from it, and the rest is pureed and ready for making pies, or bread or whatever. 

Rouge Vif D'etampes - The two hills I started in the end of July are doing fairly OK.  At the end of August I had to take off the tulle netting since the plants were getting way too big for it. Once I took them off I have been burying the vines where possible and picking off SVB eggs too.  For next year, I think I will start my fall planting later, probably sow the seeds a month later than I did, in the last week of August. The main reason being that early Sept is often still too hot, plus the SVB are really bad then.  Only recently have I noticed their activity slow down.  I did  kill a pair that was mating today. That really surprised me because I had not seen as many eggs recently, so was wondering if they were almost done for the season.  These vines had not had any flowers yet. But they have been growing very quickly.  Unfortunately some of their runners have also shown signs of mosaic virus :(

I think its the cucumber beetles.  There were tons of them, and the leaves were showing signs of damage.   So I waged war on them earlier this week, and sprayed the vines with Sevin. Since I had no flowers I was not worried about bees.  It really helped, as the next day, most were gone.

I sure hope all this hard work pays off.  Its a bummer I haven't had any fruit set on them yet. I sure hope to soon!  Otherwise its a waste of space and effort.   The tulle netting in the picture above is covering a few small acorn squash plants that I also put in recently.   

Summer Squash - The yellow crookneck and Bening's green tint squash did pretty good. I also had to uncover them because they got too big. Unfortunately the tulle did not prevent them from getting aphids, and when I uncovered them I noticed the infestation. So I have also been waging war against them too, as with the okra.  I remember last year too that in the late summer/early fall the aphids got bad on the pumpkins.  But then eventually the beneficial bugs start making their appearance.

We have gotten a good number of yellow crookneck, they produced well early, but the plants have lost their vigor recently

 One  yellow crookneck plant died, and the others two are looking pretty sickly. Maybe the heat, and aphids have done them in. Didn't notice much SVB activity on them yet.  The Benning's Green tint have done better. Their vines are actually pretty long, longer than the Yellow Crookneck for sure.  But they also have been attacked by the aphids.    I have 4 small seedlings in pots that I started. At some point I'll pull out the existing ones and plant the new ones.  I am doing 2 Benning's green tint, and 2 Ball zucchini.

August 20th Update

Its still pretty hot, but we've gotten some relief the past week. Most of early August was over 100, one day it hit 105.  But since last Tuesday, its cooled down to lower 90s and its been creeping up again, into the mid-90s.  We got a little bit of rain, but its mostly been dry.

Pumpkins/Squash 

In my last post, in early August, I had mentioned how I had started some new Rouge Vif D'etampes pumpkins in pots, and that I had planted some yellow crookneck and Benning's green tint squash and had them under tulle netting.  I had also cleared up a lot of dying Hubbard and Rouge Vif vines, and had cleaned up, buried, and watered some of the remaining healthy looking runners.

Those runners have done pretty well, and are still growing. I think they have perked up because of the more reasonable weather.  But strangely, those runner have no flowers at all..not even male flowers. Hopefully later in the season they will produce some more... otherwise I'm just wasting space and water with them, as well as time.  I pick many SVB eggs off of them and bury the new vine lengths every few days when I get a chance.  There's still a lot of eggs being laid. I also find clusters of Squash bug eggs too.   I have also injected the leaf stems with BT solution occasionally, so that if I missed an egg, and there is a borer working its way down into the main vine, it will get poisoned.  The picture below shows some of the Hubbard vines runners.  Also I went ahead and planted my two Rouge Vif plants I had in pots, and covered them with tulle.  Now I have a bit of a dilemma trying to figure out which direction I should train the new plant, and how long I should attempt to keep it covered, as it will start growing 4-6 inches a day, and that will make it very hard to keep it covered for long.

Here is the second one on the other side of the garden. Those vines outside are the older Rouge Vif, which are also alive and kicking, but no flowers..

Here are my patty pans and yellow squash. They have done great under the tulle netting. They have had some male flowers bloom, and I just stared noticing a few small female flowers forming.  I will attempt to keep them covered as long as I can. I will have to hand pollinate in a few days I bet.  But that should just be a brief time to uncover them, then I will put the cover back on. Its been nice to grow these so care free, and I highly recommend this, especially with the hoards of SVBs, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles out there.   As you can see, I removed the smaller tulle "teepees" and replaced with one big piece.

 But this was the odd one out.. the 7th plant.  It totally outgrow its small tulle cover, so to make use of the cover, I put a box around the plant, and was able to re-use that small section of tulle.

Okra and Watermelons

The "Emerald" okra seedling I put in a few weeks ago are doing great. Beautiful big green leaves, actually look a lot like squash leaves.  They have gotten attacked by some bugs... most probably cucumber beetles... hence some of the small holes in the leaves. But otherwise I have 5 big plants, and a smaller newer one growing. I see some flowers about to bloom.  

I also planted some watermelon seeds in small pots, but only 2 plants came up. Here are both of them. I put them in the ground a few days ago, in the original mound which I had put the Hubbard squash early this year.  They are looking pretty good. First time growing watermelon for me, so I hope I get something from them.

That's about it.  I just stared a few days ago  some seeds indoors for this fall. I started some lettuce, cabbage, Brussels sprouts,and cabbage.  The brussels sprout seedlings have not come up very well I only have 2 tiny seedlings that have sprouted and survived so far.  

Texas in August -- HOT!!

After a nice break from the heat during the end of July, August has come with a vengeance.  Its been over 100 for the past few days, and today it was about 102-103.  In Texas its like we have 2 growing seasons.. fall and spring.  Winter and Summer are in a strange way similar in that you can grow a limited  selection here during those times, but its tough, and only a few plants can take it.

Pumpkins/Squash

The Sugar Pie vines have all been ripped out and all those pumpkins have been harvested. I think the final count was about 17 pumpkins.   So the only pumpkin vines that remain are the Rouge Vif d'Etampes vines (or at least few runners that have survived!)  I've really debated if I should pull these out, or try and keep them alive though August, and hope they perk up and produce more in the fall.  But in any case, I do have some successors waiting in line.  I have them in pots, and covered with tulle netting, to protect them from SVBs, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles. (More on pests below).

So I'll have to decide where exactly to put these, when they outgrow their pots, which is looking like it will be pretty soon!  I will definitely have to keep them covered with tulle for a while, due to all the pests out there.  

The Hubbard Squash vines are still around, and there are 2 small squash that are maturing, but I dont think they are going to get very big. Their vines have been damaged by SVB, and they are not looking that great.  This weekend I cleared out a huge section of their vines.  I ripped out many segments of their vines that had been damaged, or looked sickly.  I think the combination of SVB damage, and the intense heat had really taken a toll on much of the plant, so it was time to prune it and make it more manageable.

I took the lawnmower and mowed down big areas of overgrown grass and sickly looking vines, but I did keep a few healthy looking runners that remained, and gave them some care, including picking off any SVB eggs, injecting BT into vines segments that might be infested, and I buried those vines.

Now that the plants are smaller again, and more manageable, it will be easier to get in there and inspect them, pick off SVB and squash bug eggs.   The vines looked pretty wilted this afternoon. We'll see if they recover tomorrow hopefully.  With how dense it had become, I had not taken care of them much. The area had been overgrown with tall grass, and was just a breeding ground for pests.  

But in the mean time, I am working on the next generation of squash plantings.  I am hoping while they are young then can survive the killer August heat and grow, and when it starts cooling off  (probably end of Sept) then they can start producing fruit.

The Pests

One mistake I made this year was to plant  too many pumpkins/squash too close, and then not be able to take care of them.  I think the effect was that I raised an army of SVBs and other pests.  I've seen tons of them the past few weeks flying around, and have killed many. And I see lots of eggs being laid.  I have also had squash bugs make an appearance this year.  Last year they were not a problem. They might be part of the reason so many parts of my vines looked rather sickly, and many leaves have withered and browned.  Also the cucumber beetles have been bad. Their number have decreased a bit the past few weeks though.  I have not sprayed any chemicals, ( I prefer to be organic) and especially since I've seen baby anoles around, and toads at night, and don't want to harm them or the bees.  I have not sprayed neem either because with so many vines it would be expensive and time consuming to cover them all.

But I think this weekend I definitely made a dent on the SVBs.  I ripped out a lot of infested vines, and took out grubs and fed them to my chickens.  Many eggs were removed from vines I kept.  I also resorted to spraying Sevin from a spray bottle to get the moths, which fly around very fast when its hot. I set it on "stream" mode, and got a few that way. 

So on my next batch of squash, mostly summer squash, and a couple Rouge Vif D'etampes, I definitely will keep them under tulle netting to protect them from the hoards of bugs, as long as I am able to.  A couple weeks ago I started some seeds in pots: Yellow Crookneck,  Bennings Green Tint Squash ( an hierloom patty pan type), as well as a couple Rouge Vifs.  I put the summer squash in the ground a few days ago.  Here is a picture of the seven plants, all covered by their tulle teepees, and well mulched.  When they outgrow their teepees, I will cut out a bigger section of tulle, and them cover them with a bigger teepee, and save this tulle for future use.  

Other Plants

The sunflowers are pretty much gone now, except for a lone plant close to the compost bin.  I chopped down many of them to clear out the old Hubbard squash patch.  I did plant the okra seedlings in in the ground too. They are Emerald Okra, which I started from seed a few weeks ago.  I put in 5 plants:

I have them in tomato cages to protect them from me stepping on them while I am working in the area.

Okra is one of those few type of plants that can take the extreme heat.    Peppers also do well, but I decided to not grow any this year, except a couple of plants my mother in law gave me last weekend. I put them in, but today they were looking pretty wilted. I am not sure what type they are. They were supposed to be bells, but are hot, and look more like poblanos. But they are thin fleshed... strange.

July 21st Update

Okra

Even though almost all of my garden is now taken up by squash/pumpkin vines, I am starting some new plants from seed for the second half of the summer.  I decided to try growing some Okra.  Its been about 8 years since I last grew okra.  Since it likes heat a lot, its a good choice summer time here in N. Texas.   Here are my first seedlings to sprout. I shouldn't need more than 5 or 6 plants to feed us all the okra we want.   Hopefully these guys will do well.  

In a couple weeks, when these guys are bigger, I will have to find an open spot to transplant these.  They are usually pretty tall plants, so they should be able to grow above the vines.    

SVB Battle

The pumpkin. hubbard squash, and acorn squash vines have been a huge jumbled mess.  Once again, I probably planted way more than I should have in my small space I have.  With such a tangled mess, I had not been able to inspect for Squash Vine Borer eggs, or spray anything for them, or even try and cover them with Tulle.  So I just let things go and run their course.  I have buried vines whenever possible, but many of the vines I just could not, especially ones that grew up onto the fence.  I can now see much of the damage the SVB have done so far.   I think the first generation completed  without me noticing much, and are now we're into the second generation of them.  I see many sections of the vines that have big holes in them, as shown in the pics below (Sugar Pie Pumpkin vines)

Most of the damaged vines have big gaping holes, and when I have inspected them, no more grub inside, so I think they exited the vines and dug into the ground to form cocoons.  I have also found empty cocoon shells on the ground too, indicating the second generation is out flying.  I have seen many eggs laid the last few days, and have killed at least 6 moths this weekend.  They are usually see flying around at mid-day.   It seems the hotter it is, the faster they fly.  

The interesting thing is that despite the damage, the plants are still able to produce.  Now the two vines I took a picture of above actually have 2 pumpkins on them that are just about mature:

I think these vines have probably put down a few more roots further down, (but I actually didn't bury these vines) or maybe there was just enough connection left in the chewed up vine to keep providing for the plant.  Either way, it seem often the Sugar Pie pumpkin plants can either outgrow or deal with some of the damage of these SVBs.

Unfortunately I think I have raised an army of SVBs.  I saw a bunch today flying, and killed as many as I could.    My plan is to pull out the remaining Sugar Pie pumpkin vines, and clear out the space when the last 4 pumpkins are ready to pick. So that will probably be in 2 more weeks.  Then I will start a  fall planting.  I will for sure have to cover them with Tulle if they are to stand a chance, to protect them from the hoards of SVBs and cucumber beetles out there.  We'll see what happens!

But up to now, the harvest has been pretty good so far.  I have already picked 1 large Rouge Vif, 1 large Hubbard, 1 small Hubbard, 14 Sugar Pie Pumpkins, 12 Acorn squashes, and at least 20 ball zucchinis.  

Sunflowers

The volunteer sunflowers are still doing great. Here is another Mammoth Sunflower that popped up right next to the edge of the garden bed.  A couple of Hubbard squash vines are growing up it.  The flower head is huge, and full of seeds,and it seems like it going to topple the plant over.  I ended up picking the other big head I had, since the squirrels had eaten about 1/3 of it.  We've been snacking on the seeds the past few days. I hope they don't mess with this one.  

Mid-July Garden Update

Been around 3 weeks since I last posted.  July is here, and its been pretty hot! Actually, we had a hot end of June, then we have a nice week in the low 90s during the 4th of July week, but then last week it was back to being "stinkin' hot" with highs in the upper 90s and up to 102.  The forecast calls for a relief from the heat again this week with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s again. Very nice for being mid July here in Texas!

Chickens

The chicks are looking a lot more like chickens now.  They still make the baby peep sounds, but occasionally I hear a chicken cluck too, so they are in the late  teenage stage now.  Here they are sitting atop their chicken tractor.  I tie up the dog and let them free roam some mornings before I go to work, then I put them back in their coop.  

Squash/Pumpkins

I finally decided to pick my big Hubbard squash.  It was not growing any, and the skin had gotten pretty hard, so I brought out the pruning shears and cut it off the vine.  It wasn't quite as heavy as it looks, its probably about 15lbs.  Haven't decided what I am going to do with it yet, maybe some pie, some bread.  Looking forward to see how it tastes. But in the meantime, its sitting in the pantry.  I also picked the smaller one, because some earwigs were starting to damage it on the underside.  The skin was hard too, so I think it was ready. When I pulled it up, I noticed the vine was pretty damaged from what I think was SVBs.  So that's probably why that one didnt grow too much.  

Unfortunately have not had any more Hubbard squash set... all of them get aborted. Now that its been so hot, I am not to hopeful. I am hoping if we have a cooler week we might get some more to set.  I've read that in temps above 90, they have a real hard time setting, and the plants tend to abort the female flowers.  

I am definitely seeing some effects from SVBs now.  My vines are so big and rambunctious that I have had a hard time checking all the vines for the eggs. I have also not been good at spraying the neem oil.  I guess I've gotten lazy, plus that stuff is expensive. and since I didn't see much activity, I didn't bother spraying it much.  I've seen damage on some of my Hubbard vines, Rouge Vif D'etampes,  ball zucchini, and on my sugar pie pumpkins.  The sugar pie pumpkins are mostly done now.  I've picked about 12 of them now, and there are about 5 other ones still maturing on the vines.  But I think they will be done in a few weeks, and then I might pull up all those vines.   Some of the sections of the Rouge Vif vines have died off, but there are some big sections of the vine that are still growing well.  But no more pumpkins have set. They have all withered and died :(

The ball zucchini has done pretty well, despite some SVB damage, which I treated by extracting some grubs, and injecting with BT to kill any other ones. We've gotten at least 15 nice ones from 4 plants.   Today we grilled some on the barbecue grill. They were great that way. 

I am trying to decide when its time to pull up all the vines and start my fall planting. I might evaluate within a month, and in the meantime start some in pots.  I think I will focus on Rouge Vif, more acorn squash, and some patty pan, yellow squash, and ball zucchini for the fall.   I'll keep the existing Hubbard vines, and hopefully see if they can produce more later on.  

Sunflowers, Etc.

The only other things that are growing now are pole beans and sunflowers. The pole beans are huge, with lots of flowers, but no beans!  I think it might be the heat.  Again, am hoping that the forecasted cooler weather fixes this problem. 

Here is yet another volunteer sunflower.  I think its another one of the mammoth varieties.  

In this picture you can see it, and some of the other varieties behind it.  They all have been doing great, and thankfully, the squirrels have left them alone!

The bees are really liking my garden, between all the squash/pumpkin blossoms in the morning, and all the sunflowers.  Here is another kind, with a good shot of a bee on it.  

This is the first mammoth sunflower, as of today. The seeds are pretty much ready to eat. We've been snacking on some of them while still on the stalk.

 Another bee magnet.. morning glories.  These are also volunteers from many years back. They come back year after year, reseeding themselves.  They are almost weeds now but every year I let a few grow.

First Pumpkin Harvests

of 2013

While inspecting my large Rouge Vif D'etampes pumpkin, I noticed a few small gnaw marks on the bottom part of it.  Fearing that rats or some other critter might be starting to get interested in it, I decided to try to cover it with a fabric bag to protect it. While trying to move the pumpkin, I head a crack,  and snapped my stem off my pumpkin!  Thankfully, I think its mostly ripe now, so I think I will let it cure in the garage a few weeks, and then I will begin to make some pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes!!

I weighed it, and its about 23lbs.  Many of the sugar pie pumpkins have also ripened.  Here are my three little "punkins" holding 2 Sugar Pie pumpkins, and the previous pumpkin. I've picked 4 Sugar Pie pumpkins already, and there are about 8 others on the vines.

Mid June Update

Its mid June already, and pretty hot and sticky out there.  It was extremely muggy today, almost felt like opening a dish washer and sticking your face in there.    My chicks are getting bigger, and are in that "teenage" stage where they have both down and feathers, and still have baby chick voices.   I try and take them out about an hour a day to forage around.  They love it, especially all the interesting bugs and worms they find to eat.

My garden is now mainly squash/pumpkin vines, and some pole beans, and sunflowers.. (they were all volunteers from last year).  The beans have gotten a very slow start, and have been kind of sickly.  But we've managed a few meals from them.

The blue Hubbard squash plants continue to grow huge, despite what I believe is some sort of mosaic virus infection.    They are about 25ft long and branching out a lot.   Fortunately one of the fruit has set and grown very well.

Here is my big one.  Its pretty big now, I would guess its about 15lbs.  

There are 3 other hubbards growing, but they are still around 5 inches in diameter, and I am not sure if they will make it or get aborted.

On the other side of the garden are the Sugar Pie pumpkins and the Rouge Vif d'Etampes.   The sugar pie vines have totally engulfed the area, and have kind of crowded out some of the space I was hoping the Rouge Vif d'Etampes would grow into.  But I am starting to get some nice pumpkins ripening.  Here are the first 2, and there are probably about 6 or 7 other green ones on the vines.  

Here is the Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkin.  Its stopped growing.  I would guess its about 20lbs or so right now. Its a beauty, and its color is starting to deepen.  Unfortunately the other pumpkin on the vine rotted away, but yesterday I notice a promising looking freshly set female flower starting to swell up.  

And here are more ball zucchini from our few plants I have.

Pest Status 

The most numerous pest this year is undoubtedly the cucumber beetle, both the spotted and striped ones.  There are hundreds of them around my cucurbit vines.  They are mostly found in the morning on the blossoms, feeding on the flowers and pollen.  I think their biggest damage is the disease transmitting they do. I am sure they are the reason so many of my vines have had mosaic virus infection.  

The aphids have not been a problem yet.  I think spider mites have attacked my pole beans. I always have that happen when it starts getting hot.

The SVBs (squash vine borers) have not been a problem yet. I have not seen any damage yet. I have seen eggs, and have picked a few off here and there, but the vines are so huge I have no chance of getting them all.  I have even killed 3 moths already.

 I think 2 things have helped.   I got a real early start this spring,  and the vines were huge before I ever saw a moth or saw any eggs.  Also I have diligently buried vines.  So most of my big vines are either dug under or heavily mulched so the moths cannot easily lay eggs on them.  Also I have sprayed neem oil on them too, and I think that has helped too.  

Sunflowers

Our sunflowers for some reason have escaped the squirrel onslaught that caused me so much grief last year.  They are all volunteers from last year's planting. Here is a Mammoth variety. The silly plant decided to face away from our yard, so the only way I can appreciate it is to go outside into the alley and look over our 8ft fence. At least the neighbors get to enjoy it!   I have a few of this growing, plus another variety which is also very tall but has many smaller flowers instead of the single big one. Its great for cut flowers.