Suburban Valkyrie

The scourge of the gardener is pests. And diseases. And critters that eat things you are trying to grow.  And too much rain. And not enough rain. Okay, so gardeners have several scourges.

If you are growing any of the cucurbit family of veggies, though, pests are high up on that list. So it was that I got up close and personal with the squash bug this summer. Or, to be more accurate, the squash bug's eggs.

While working in the garden one morning, my daughter and I noticed a grouping of light brownish spots on the underside of a zucchini plant leaf. A quick check of the Google revealed them to be the eggs of the squash bug.



The squash bug likes to lay its eggs in clusters on the underside of a squash leaf.



The eggs are often clustered near one of the leaf's main veins.



Squash bugs can decimate a garden, and quickly. I knew they had to go.

I'm not a huge fan of chemical insecticides and have tried (and so far have succeeded) to avoid using them in my garden. So rather than try to poison the bugs, I wanted to find a better way to put an end to their next generation.

The answer was as near as my garage: duct tape.

Yes, you can use duct tape to remove squash bug eggs. It is easy and effective, does no damage to the environment or your food supply, and is an immediate solution.

Step 1: Discover eggs. Curse the gardening gods. Then gird your loins for battle.

Step 2: Locate duct tape. Probably in the garage. This step may actually take you the longest amount of time...

Step 3: Cut off a four- to five-inch length of duct tape.

Step 4: Hold the tape so that it is draped over a finger or two (index finger tends to give best control).

Step 5: Gently press duct-tape-covered finger against clutch of eggs and then pull back. Check to see that the eggs all stuck to the tape. If you missed a couple, just touch them again.



Step 6: Marvel at yet another use for duct tape. In the garden. Who knew?

Step 7: Fold the piece of tape securely in half and, for extra measure, squish the two sides together to smush the eggs flat in between. Throw the egg-ridden folded tape in the trash, and take out the trash. Ick.


Even if the tape removes a portion of the leaf along with the eggs (as it did here), that tiny damage still is better than allowing the squash bug eggs to hatch into a crowd of voracious insects ready to destroy your hard gardening work.

After we discovered the first clutch of eggs, checking the undersides of leaves of our yellow squash and zucchini plants became a daily part of our garden work. Every few days, we would find another cluster of eggs. We used the duct tape solution to our squash bug egg problem each time, and it worked like a charm.

I only ever found two actual adult squash bugs, and they were easy enough to grab and kill by smushing. Sorry, squash bugs. You have got to go.

What pests have you discovered in your garden this year? How have you handled them?

The recent cool, rainy, grey weather here in the Philly 'burbs has had me worried. Not just for my own sanity - honestly, after this past winter, we all NEED some sunshine, amirite? - but also for the health of my latest obsession: tomatoes. Well, my garden overall, really.

But my weekly garden tour and assessment perhaps should put some of my fears to rest. Everything seems to be gaining in size and production, and, so far at least, staying ahead of pests and diseases. Here is the nickel tour.

This is the newest area of our garden. I created it in May, by moving an old garden bench we had between the windows to the back by the deck and putting the arbor in its place, along with other various containers - including the picnic basket, which I got for about $8 at our local thrift shop. At the far right, in the first crate, is a Black Cherry tomato.

The second 4 x 4 raised bed is by now a sprawling mound of vining plants. Left, zucchini. Right, toward the fence section, is a burpless cucumber that is producing faster than I can keep up. Bottom right corner is Blue Lake Bush Beans - which started as five "little" plants. I've never grown beans before, and I just noticed the first few have materialized, so I am beyond thrilled that they are (so far) growing. Bottom left corner, barely discernible under the zucchini leaves, is a cantaloupe plant. My daughter picked it out, but I have since learned that cantaloupe is somewhat difficult to grow, so I'm not surprised that it hasn't done much. Plus - with the Monster Zucchini for a neighbor, the poor thing probably gets little sun.

Black raspberries are not blackberries. Blackberries are not black raspberries.

That's the first thing I have found myself explaining to well-intentioned people who have directed me to blackberries when what I asked for was black raspberries. It turns out there is a fair amount of confusion over the two. Once you've tasted real, honest-to-goodness black raspberries, though, you will never be confused about them again.



Fortunately, if you live near enough to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, there is an easy way to educate yourself and your taste buds. Penn-Vermont Fruit Farm, in Bedminster Township, offers pick-your-own black raspberries. They are in season now, and they are gorgeous.
Penn-Vermont is nestled along what is still today a country road, Bedminster Road, even though it also happens to be Rt. 113, an important connector road through the heart of Bucks County and its farm country. A drive to Penn-Vermont displays some of Bucks County's most beautiful scenic farm land, and is a relaxing way to spend any morning or afternoon.



The farm itself comprises nearly 60 acres and has been preserved for agricultural use through Bucks County's Agricultural Land Preservation Program, which has preserved more than 12,000 acres across the county since its founding in 1988. Owned by Ken and Judy Bupp since 1982, the farm is an amazing community resource. Taking kids to see a real farm is an education in and of itself, especially for kids who may live in urban or suburban environment disconnected from the places where fresh food is actually grown.

Nearly every time we've visited, the family that keeps the farm running is out in the fields, actually keeping the farm running. Note the farm equipment to the right of the photo below:



On this particular visit, my daughter and I were there with one thing in mind: black raspberries. Penn-Vermont had alerted followers on the farm's Facebook page that the berries, sometimes called "black caps" by growers, were ready. And since the season is relatively short, we didn't want to waste any time.

We weren't disappointed. After we checked in at the stand near the entrance to the farm, we picked up a carrier with six dry pint berry baskets and the helpful young lady directed us to the patch. "Head for the farthest rows - most people stop at the first rows, so the back rows have more."




We did as she suggested and headed for the rows farthest from the check-in stand. Within minutes, we were pulling gorgeously plump, shiny black raspberries off the canes and into our little baskets.

When perfectly ripe, black raspberries pull so easily off the core on the cane that they practically fall into your hand. Like most berries, they should be treated gently so as not to smush them.

When they do get smushed, the juice that leaks out leaves a gorgeous dark berry stain - just don't rub your hands on your clothes, especially not white clothes.

Though black raspberries can be grown across North America, most of the berries grown in the United States seem to come from Oregon - the Willamette Valley, specifically. That may be one explanation for why they can be so hard to find in other parts of the country.

The relative rarity can mean that black raspberries are a pricy choice in markets across the country. At the Penn-Vermont pick-your-own fields, however, cost was just $5 per dry pint.

Within about 30 minutes, we had filled two pint baskets to the brim with perfectly ripe, perfectly lovely black raspberries.




We headed for the stand to pay.





These berries are fated for two destinations: 1. a tiny batch of black raspberry preserves, and 2. our stomachs. They are so sweet and tart and tangy, I predict that we will eat most of them right away. Which is a good thing, because like most tender raspberries, they can go bad very quickly. Eating them right away, then, is really just doing them a kindness.

If you go:

What: Penn-Vermont Fruit Farm
Where: 831 Rolling Hills Rd., Bedminster, Bucks County, PA
Phone: 215-795-0230
Online: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penn-Vermont-Fruit-Farm/107360655976304
Hours: Check the Facebook page or call before you go