Today was a beautiful day, so much cooler than the previous few days. I was in the garden by 4 p.m., tilling up two rows for the rattlesnake beans that have been sitting on my kitchen table for weeks. (I decided not to plant it with the corn, reasoning that if the raccoons take down the corn, they'll take down the beans with it.) Just as I finished the tilling, I looked across the garden and noticed that two of my squash plants had wilted since yesterday. I turned off the tiller and went for a closer look. It appeared that both plants had been nicked with a hoe. This was something of a relief, as I had feared the damage was from cutworms.
But while I was inspecting the plant stems, I found bugs. Many of them were copulating. Some had already copulated, evidenced by little patches of brown eggs I saw on a few of the leaves. I nearly had a stroke.
Luckily, I had stopped by the garden center for supplies - fungicide, insecticide, and fertilizer.
Four hours later, the garden had been fungicided, BTd, and fertilized, and the beans had been planted. We ought to be good to go for a week or more.
Before I sprayed, I picked about half a dozen squash, enough for our supper and Nanny's. We sauteed ours with onions and ate it with Mexican cornbread. Yum.
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