Death Stars in the Garden

Remember my cucumbers and zucchini that where taking over the universe who I lovingly referred to as the "rebel alliance"? Well...they have fallen into tragedy.

Thanks to the death stars.

Now, I've admittedly been a little distracted from the garden by Fox 10, Tae Kwan Do, school starting and life in general. I'll admit I had fallen into the habit of just watering and moving on with the day. The advent of the death star could have been prevented. In fact, I was reading Adventures in Self Reliance and was shocked to see Angela's post on Squash Bugs. I had seen the little freaks but not been too worried. According to Angela the time to prevent major problems was when they where in egg form. So...I started looking for eggs. Unfortunately the minute I told Face I was looking for bug eggs instead of Easter eggs...he freaked out. No way was he touching an egg that would make a creepy little spider thing. He imagined they could crawl into his ears and lay eggs. It seems my love of Star Trek has warped my children forever.

Well, last night I painstakingly went through my watermelon patch and lifted a ton of leaves one by one finding about 300 of these little eggs! Holy crazy bus! I'm so glad I took the time to prevent a tragedy there. I can't even bare the thought of losing my watermelon. I love it so much. As I now know what to look for, I will keep my eyes peeled. Hopefully I got them all.

Special Thanks to Angela at Adventures in Self Reliance for the picture of the evil devils. and her amazing post.

I certainly learned from her experience. Now I have been warned. I'm warning my neighbors. Look for eggs. Don't lose your crops by waiting. It was a good lesson. Gardening can be such a metaphor for life. Anyway, if you have squash growing in the Southwest USA...take a minute to look under the leaves. It might be the best thing you ever do for your plants. Thank you Angela!!