2016 Aug 6th Albopepper Urban Garden Walk-thru: Battling Squash Vine Borer & Edible Landscaping

Tips, Tricks

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The mid-Summer heat has been taking its toll. We haven't had a drought, but even still the plants have needed lots and lots of water! I can't imagine growing crops in containers without a self-watering reservoir. The sub-irrigated planters have made for easy gardening. xD This is my first serious season for growing squashes. I've tried both Summer Squash and Winter Squash. Zucchini, spaghetti squash, acorn squash and red kuri. They've grown fast and pumped out a bountiful yield. But the larger concentration of cucurbitas has become a beacon to new pests. Squash Bugs have been on the prowl. And the most destructive has been the Squash Vine Borer. Squash vine borers will lay small individual eggs under the stems of your plants. If you are not vigilant, the emerging larvae will then eat your plants from the inside out!!! In this video I show a quick tip to prevent squash borers. Also I show how one of my squash vines was able to survive even though the base of the plant had been destroyed. I love my annual vegetable garden. Every Summer it explodes with massive growth! But then the plot is open and barren in just a few months. I'm enjoying my research into permaculture and edible landscaping as I've begun planting various edible perennials. Most won't grow quite as quickly in the 1st year, but they offer an element both stability and beauty in your yard. They can really round out your gardening experience. In this video I show a glimpse of my comfrey which have been a great biomass accumulator. And I have several edible vining perennials. The hardy kiwi is slowly establishing itself. My Chinese yam (air potato) is already making tiny bulbs on the vine. But the show stopper has been the passion fruit (passiflora). This FAST growing beautiful vine has remarkable sweet smelling flowers. The pollinators love it. And I'm excited to try my first ripened fruit!!! Here are few annual vegetables featured in my urban garden: 00:56 - Red Kuri (Winter Squash Heirloom) http://shrsl.com/?di0t 03:59 - Sweet REBA Acorn (Winter Squash) http://shrsl.com/?di0v 07:59 - Onion Ailsa Craig Exhibition (Long Day Heirloom) 12:09 - Crimson Sweet Watermelon (Heirloom) http://shrsl.com/?di0y 13:14 - Orient Wonder Bean (Pole Yard Long) http://shrsl.com/?di0z These permaculture perennials are shown in my edible landscape: 09:19 - Russian Comfrey: Bocking 14 09:35 - Wild Yam, Chinese: Dioscorea batatas (air potato) 10:42 - Maypop Passionflower: Passiflora incarnata 14:15 - Hardy Kiwi: Actinidia arguta ‘Issai’ (self-fertile) #RaisedBedGardening #OrganicGardening #SmallSpaceGardens #SelfWateringGarden #EdibleLandscaping #WhyIGarden ================================== Support AlboPepper.com and get some cool garden shirts that I designed myself: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/albopepper/ ==================================

Comments

how often do you water your plants when it is that hot?

what kind of cherry tomatoes are those? are they ripe when orange?

I love the videos where people plant everywhere they can fit some plants, its like an episode of hoarders only a lot healthier! Really like the diversity of plants, if you eat with your eyes you may as well garden with them too. Thanks for the great videos, really enjoy them a lot!

I'm feel that (need a gardening BREAK) NOW! Lol

Squash Vine Borer - things that what worked for me. I went to the dollar store and bought a pack of small bright yellow plastic cereal bowls. Put dish washing liquid soapy water in the bowls and place them around the garden and it attracts the moths that lay the eggs - they get in the bowls and drown. I don't think you can do this but, the pupa (?) live over the winter in the top couple of inches in the soil and emerge in the spring so, I made a lite movable pen with a couple of chickens and moved them along my garden in the fall - they dug up the dirt, added fertilizer, and gobbled up the larva. Use the top 4" inches of your planter box dirt as layers in a "hot" compost box in the fall and over the winter and that will kill the pupa (?) in the soil itself. If you are in the garden a lot, use a butterfly net to catch moths - I caught mostly cabbage moths. Planting "hard stem" varieties helps a lot but, that limits your variety. The moths emerge pretty early in the spring so, if you can plant a little later and still get a harvest that helps because the moths have already laid their eggs somewhere else and died. You showed using the tape on the stems to get the eggs - time consuming but, it can save your plants if you do it early enough and often enough. Oh, baked butternut squash with lots of real butter and brown sugar sounds really good about now!

I was talking to a friend about squash because the same thing happened to me as well. And she said that she only plants Cucurbita moschata type of squash because of the hard vine, but i like the Cucurbita pepo as well are there any type of squash that are resistant the squash bug or borer?

Nice melons, sorry I couldn't resist. Pasta sauce those extra tomatoes and jar it, should last for awhile if you jar them right.

Thanks for this awesome video. Very interesting plants and techniques you have, please keep us posted with this passion fruits.
Cheers

UGHH I had the same thing happen this year! I planted 6 squash plants of different varieties (crookneck, zuchinni, etc) and the little pest took out 4 of the 6!!!!!!!! I was pretty bummed.

Very nice update! Love the garden. It's looking great. The SVB hit mine too and the battle with the squash bugs. Aaaaaargh. Always something.
Brent

NICE !

Awesome growth. I don't think u could have done much better. I think your tired from looking at the abundance and not knowing how your gonna eat all that. That tomato plant is growing like a beast and even considering that it's growing in a tote. Your soil mix must b working great.