Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Bad squash year

I am having the worst year for squash that I can remember. My entire pumpkin bed is gone, that is over 15 vines. I have two sad hubbard squash vines left, however, they are not sending out any vines. My entire lower squash row is a total loss.

That's not the only affected area. I have lost my entire vegetable spaghetti bed. Last year we produced so many spaghetti squash that our freezer was packed and it provided all winter. Our acorn squash is producing but just barely. We have a total of two fruit on eight plants!

The zucchini is also barely producing. We have harvested four zucchini off of a similar eight plants. Our rampicante zucchini isn't producing at all. Yellow squash yields are similarly bleak.

The rest of the garden is flourishing with a few exceptions. I just can't explain my squash failures. To combat pests, I used floating row cover until late June which should have done the trick in that arena.

I am wondering if the very wet spring, coupled with the early, prolonged heat wave created the perfect storm of poor growing conditions. I'd like to hear what others are experiencing.

In the meantime, we'll be supplementing from the produce auction this year.

1 comment:

  1. Don't feel bad. My squash looks terrible too. Just makes me more thankful for the beans and potatoes :)

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