squash vine border!!!!!! life ruiner!!!!!!!!

dear squash vine border, 

you suck and i hate you. 

i've got row cover now, 

and i'm not afraid to use it.

(august 21st. bored to death.)

unfortunately, wrapping the base of the plants with burlap didn't work, so yet again, the dreaded squash vine border has reeked total destruction on my squash plants. first it was the winter squash earlier in the season, now my summer squash are toast. i knew i was taking a bit of a risk planting them so late anyway, but the little buggers were doing pretty good and i got about 4 tiny zucchini and 2 itty bitty yellow necks before the plants started to completely die. such annihilation could not be blamed on just the pesky squash bug, which aren't that bad to deal with since they move fairly slow and are easy to catch a squish, but rather the dread squash vine border, whose adult moth is one quick flying little monster. 

 (july, 15th, about 2 weeks old.)

so, here i go, squash experiment #3.... row cover. after pulling up all the squash plants today, i plan on waiting a few days (to let all the missed buggies die out or leave.... especially you spotted cucumber beetle, don't think i didn't see you out there today as well) and then i'm attempting round three with the little bit of summer we have left. this time i'm gonna employ some row cover to keep all the buggies off. however, this method will require me to go out and manually pollinate the plants. that's right folks, more squash lovin. but not to worry, the turn table and outdoor speakers are up and running, so there will be a little bit of mood music for the occasion. 

 (august 5th, looking good (pre vine border) with netting to keep out the squirrels.)

will keep ya posted on how the row cover goes. hopefully, i will have my method perfected by next spring.