Our sixth Three Sisters Podcast: compost, worms, squash borers
Here Anne and Mollie and I have a picture with our brothers Mark and Matthew.
My sisters Mollie and Anne and I are all gardeners. Our brothers Mark and Matt are avid gardeners, too. We kids grew up with these summer chores: “Weed the strawberry bed.” “Help Mom with pickling the beets.” “Pick the potato bugs off the potato plants,” and so on. We couldn’t head to the swimming pool in town (where we all wanted to be!) until our gardening chores were all done each day. Mom and Dad planted a very large garden every spring, and also raised perennial beds full of asparagus, rhubarb, berries, and also had a small orchard of apple, pear, peach trees and more.
We grew up eating well, and learning how to raise good food. Is it any wonder that we can’t wait until spring, when we can put our own gardens in again? (Thank you Mom and Dad!)
In our sixth podcast, my sisters and I chat about garden matters: watering methods, the importance of mulch, and compost piles. I share my excitement of a much-anticipated event: setting up red wiggler compost bins with my dad! Listen to the podcast here, and read the blog post about those wigglers right here.
They look pretty happy to me, don’t they to you?
- Red worm composting sounds awesome, but . . . in my basement?
- Eventually, Mothers Grow Up Too . . . Ideally . . .
4 thoughts on “Our sixth Three Sisters Podcast: compost, worms, squash borers”
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Interesting! I’ve always wondered about composting. I’m heading over to listen to the podcast.
Thanks so much for listening, Liz!
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Trying to get to the pod cast – can’t find it. Can you update you links please?
I would like to hear about the squash borers – this is a problem for my garden and I’m unable to grow any squash or cucumbers
Scott,
I’m afraid that podcast is no longer available! I’m sorry. I will tell you how I thwart squash borers. First, do a little research and find out which varieties are more immune to the borers, if you’ve had problems in the past. Second, the squash borer moth (that lays the eggs on the stems of the soon-to-be-dead vines) comes through your area during a few certain weeks every year. I don’t know where you live, but here in Nebraska, it’s the end of June to the middle of July. An internet search ought to reveal this to you. Third, during those weeks, take a little time every day to wander through your squash patch, studying the stems near the ground. If the moth has laid its eggs, you’ll see them. Spritz the stems with soapy water and use your fingers to squish those eggs TO OBLIVION!! If you miss some eggs, and they hatch and dig into the stems, you’ll see cruddy looking gunk on the outside of the stem. In this case (depending on how precious your squash vines are to you) you can use your pocketknife to dig out the offending larva inside the stem (it’s gross, but easy to do) or you could destroy that part of the stem and hope the rest of the plant makes up for it. In any case, good luck! I’ll write a blog post about this later this year. Thanks for the idea, Scott, and happy gardening!