For the Love of Zucchini...

Last year was the first full summer in our new house and I was very excited to finally have the sun and yard space for vegetable gardening.  I don't have a lot of experience in vegetable gardening, but having worked as a horticulturist with ornamentals for almost 6 years made me believe that I would be lucky in this endeavor. Mother Nature (we have words occasionally) kindly reminded me that I was getting a big head and plagued my garden with pests and crop failure galore!  Regardless, I learned some lessons last year and this post is about one of those lessons.

Summer squash/zucchini is a favorite in this household, so it was a must on the ever growing garden list. Last summer, I planted three seeds around Mother's Day and watched these beauties take off....seriously, I wish I had taken a picture....they were gorgeous!  We harvested about 3-4 squash, made some zucchini bread, baked zucchini with tomato sauce, fried zucchini...we were in heaven and excited to get oodles more to share with family and friends and more to shred and freeze for future zucchini bread cravings. I so wanted to be that neighbor that brought baskets of vegetables over to share because our refrigerator was overflowing from such a good harvest.  I realize now "baskets" may have been setting the bar a bit high....but, a few zucchinis here and there to share would have been nice.  Ok, so you've guessed it...I had no zucchini's to share....

One day in July, I looked out the window and one of my beautiful zucchini plants was wilting.  My husband automatically assumed it needed water.  I thought maybe it was a temporary reaction to the heat and humidity of the day.  Long story short, this huge, once prolific looking zucchini plant was not looking any better as the week went on and his friends quickly joined him.  I had an 11 month old at the time, so I took more of the sit and wait method rather than pouring time and energy into figuring out what was wrong with the plants.....it HAD to be the hot and humid week we were experiencing because zucchini's are one of the easiest vegetables to grow!  After all, I took a quick look at the plants and could not see anything obvious to me ( I should have looked a little harder). 

After his friends followed suit, I did finally get onto google to research what might be going on and hoped for some sort of advice to get these plants back on track. I had noticed some larger brown bugs around the plant and with my biology background knew they were what we call "true bugs"....at least that is what we called them... names always seem to change. I was able to narrow my bug down with the help of my basic bug knowledge AND google images. I was dealing with a squash bug! But how could this insect create such damage on such healthy plants??? It didn't make sense to me based on what I was reading, so I kept looking.....

Squash Bug

insects.about.com

As I looked at my plants closer, I also noticed some yellowy sawdust type stuff at the base of their stems.  Upon lifting one of my zucchini stems to get a better look,  the stem easily snapped right off....back to google!  Turns out these plants were doomed from early on.  Before they even were large enough to flower and produce fruit, my zucchini had a little killer living inside their main stems that slowly sucked the life out of them.  The squash bugs were not the main killer, but they definitely did not help the situation. 
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My zucchinis killer was the squash vine borer. The squash vine borer moth lays eggs at the base of plants (winter squash, summer, squash and cucumbers are some of their targets).  When the eggs hatch, the larva burrows into the base of the plant and begins to slowly suck the life out of your zucchini...the worst part??????.....you most likely will not know anything is wrong with your plant until they are big, beautiful, flowering and possibly giving you a few good squash before they wilt and signal you to their ultimate death. Eggs are oval, flattened, dull-red in color, and 1 mm in diameter.

Squash Vine Borer moth

Squash Borer Larva

The only good thing to come out of my mass zucchini die off was that I came into this growing season armed with a little more knowledge.   I had read somewhere that you could wrap the stems of your zucchini in aluminum foil to prevent the moth from laying her eggs there.  Here is a video of the method I am referring to....pretty basic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnnJ84W8kyE

Here is a few pictures of MY zucchinis this year and their foil wraps.  The foil is wrapped loosely and should fall off as the zucchini grows.

My zucchini had just gotten their third leaf when I wrapped their stem.

I simply put a thin aluminum foil wrap at the base of their stems

 My only apprehension with my gardening this year is that I planted my zucchini  in relatively the same spot as last year. When you have a pest outbreak, it is generally a good rule to NOT plant that same plant in the same area the next time.....but I am taking my chances and hopefully do not have to report back that I again was an epic fail at growing one of the easiest vegetables out there! Wish me luck....

Happy Gardening! 

Candi


 

Rim to Rim: Day 2- North Kaibab Trail to Cottonwood Campground

Big fan of the heart shaped prickly pear cactus pads.  We found one that looked like Pac Man too!

The Cantina at Phantom Ranch.  An air-conditioned oasis at the bottom of the canyon.  We enjoyed a beer and some M&M's the night before.

A view of one of the cabins at Phantom Ranch.  The easier way to do the hike down is to have a cabin at the ranch and order food from the Cantina (although it has to be done in advance and is kind of expensive since everything is brought down by mule).

Oddly enough we found this on the second day, being about 10 miles in.  Obviously, it took this woman that long to realize her lipstick was probably worthless...

There was an arrow drawn in the dirt pointing to this poor little guy.  We then wondered if the cactus was part of his demise, or if someone just found him along the path and placed him there....we'll never know.

Not a lot of elevation change on the second day.

Frog sitting alongside a stream at Ribbon Falls.

Ribbon Falls is about a mile round trip from the main trail and worth the little extra work it is finding the right to get up in to it. 

Looking out from Ribbon Falls

Dave and I waited out the heat of the day here.  I ate lots of pretzels and laid on this very comfy rock enjoying the solitude.

View from behind Ribbon Falls

Wetting down before we continued on our hike

Remember the frog?? Well, these three white blobs are his friends scaling a rock.

Once we got into Cottonwood Campground, we laid out our thermarests and took naps.  Apparently, this little guy was watching me quite closely as I slept.

The North Rim Lodge (where we staid once we got off the trail the next day) ,is up on the right...trust me.

Rim to Rim: Day 1- South Kaibab Trail to Bright Angel Campground/Phantom Ranch

We started the hike just before 6am.  Day 1 was a series of switchbacks getting us to the bottom of the canyon.

The canyon ahead.

Resting the feet and eating a salty snack...two very important things to remember to do on this hike.  And drinking lots of water too, of course!

Pretending to mind his own business, but planning an attack!  I'm not kidding...this squirrel wanted our cashews BAD...I feared for my life.

Dave probably feeling pretty good.  Candi smiling through the pain of jammed toes....new boots are definitely in order.

Oh geez...that's a lot of switchbacks!

This squirrel was eating this prickly pear fruit like he hadn't eaten in months. 

More switchbacks, Colorado River and the bridge we would eventually cross to get to our campground.

Looking back at the bridge tunnel.

It's hot at the bottom of the canyon  in August!

Luckily a crisp, clear creek runs through Phantom Ranch and the Campground. Dave is demonstrating the "horizontal hiker".

We were told this was a pink rattlesnake.  Luckily it was several campsites down.

We saw lot's of lizards on our hike.

View of the bridge from Bright Angel trail into Phantom Ranch area.  Unlike, the South Kaibab, Bright Angel has potable water along the way.  Bright Angel is longer, but if we were to do it again, we would probably take Bright Angel down.  Water's heavy!

Grand Canyon National Park August 2010

Our next adventure took us to Grand Canyon National Park.  Dave and I have been "planning" to do this trip ever since we have been together.  Our goal:  Hike the entire Kaibab Trail (Rim to Rim). These pictures are our first views of the canyon and a preview to our hike.

My first impression...."It looks so fake!" Yeah, I said that.  Turns out, its awesomeness is real!

First tourist stop: The Watch Tower. 

A view from the Watch Tower

The grayish colors in this photo are actually green..several different shades of green.  Needless to say, both of us were a little surprised to see so much of that color in the canyon. 

Dave has to see the sunrises and sunsets...I enjoy them too, but I mean, he really has to see them!  Here is our sunrise.

Dave was much more impressed with the sunset.  Notice the rain streaks off in the distance.

Sunset

Sunset

Yeah, we really enjoyed the sunset!

Weird, wacky and fascinating...the anhinga!

I was looking through our Florida pictures the other day and came upon several of a bird I first saw in Costa Rica. I was very excited to tell Dave what I knew as we saw gobs of them during our recent trip to the Everglades. Did I say recent!!??? I mean, during our Florida trip to the Everglades back in March!! Uggh!

Here are some pictures if this strangely beautiful bird often called Snake Bird or Water Turkey :

Anhingas are large birds about 35" in length with a 45" wingspan.

We saw several anhingas fishing and watched in amazement as they beat the fish they caught against rocks. Anhingas spear the fish with their beaks like an arrow and are often seen beating or rubbing their beaks against rocks in order to pry the fish off.


You can easily see here why anhingas are also called Snake Bird. Creepy little bugger! Anhingas do not have water proof feathers like ducks (no oil glands). Therefore, they are less buoyant and can easily dive for their prey. They are also known to stay under water for significant periods of time.

Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this, but anhingas will often be seen for sitting with their wings spread for long periods of time in order to dry them.

Pictures of Vacations Past continued... Hawaii

This made us chuckle... I believe this lava flow occurred in 2003 and has blocked off an entire road along the coast of the big island of Hawaii.

I don't know what this plant is, but it's gorgeous AND growing on old lava! You go plant!

The most awesome bromeliad I have ever seen! Maui, Hawaii