2010 Garden Close Out

Uh, yeah. I never closed out the 2010 garden, mostly because the squash vine borers crushed my gardening soul. What is a squash vine borer, you ask? It's a little colorful moth that flies around and deposits it's eggs on the vines and leaves of squash plants. Those eggs then grow into these things:

As they grow they eat their way down the squash vine until the plant is dead and rotten. Like this:

Last year we performed surgery on several of our squash plants in an effort to save them. We managed to give some of them a few more weeks of life, but in the end the borers won the war. That combined with the fact that the ants and aphids seemed like they would ONCE AGAIN defeat my pepper plants and I just couldn't fight anymore. Until fall came. Whoa...fall came and the plants were like "ZOMG! It's not 140 degrees outside! And all the pests went away! Let's get busy!" And then we had so many tomatoes and peppers we didn't know what to do with them all. I tried making salsa and soup and salads, but it was literally impossible to eat them all. 

I'm glad our 2010 garden ended on a good note. It was a much needed victory during a very challenging time in 2010. This is why I garden. It's full of ups and downs, but every harvest no matter how big or small feels like a victory. It's the victories in life that help carry us through.