Invasion from Within: The Squash Borers Attack "Alien" style

My exploding foamy squash vine

Squash Borers.  I hate them.  I've only just met them, and I already hate them.

Yesterday, I went to weed around the squash and saw that the vines near the soil looked like something out of a science fiction movie.  The insides had turned into foam and burst from the confines of the vine walls.  It was creepy, and I wondered what bacteria could do that.  They were beautiful, and everything was growing well one day, and the next, it was like they'd dissolved into creepy foam.

I googled "squash vine foam" and discovered pictures that looked exactly like my squash:  I had vine borers.  According to the University of Minnesota's extension website page on Managing Vine Borers in Home Gardens, all of this destruction was caused by the nasty larvae of a kind of a funky looking clearwing moth.  I knew nothing about this thing, so all the information below is from them.  You should check out their full article for a more detailed explanation, and read more for my short one.

4 Tips For Getting Plant Bargains at the Store

Yesterday, we searched for decorative plants for my brother's yard.  His back yard is full sun, and his front yard is mostly shady, and he plans to live in his house for quite a while.  As usual, I had my eye out for a bargain, which made me think more about ways to get plants for cheap at stores.  It's amazing what deals you can get on plants that need a little TLC.

Looking Online for Free Stuff

I started searching for soil today, and began online.  I found a few resources I expected, and a few surprises.  All in all, though the pickings were slim.  I hope that the few feelers I put out prove fruitful because otherwise, I'm going to have to go low-tech on this one.

(see specifics after the jump)

What Can & Can't be Composted

As I look into restarting composting, it seems like a great time to post a list of what can and can't be composted.  When I used to compost, I was a vegetarian, so it was super easy to know what to compost:  leftovers.  Done.  Now that we eat omnivorously (yum!) it's a little more complicated.  so. . .here we go.
As always, chop everything down to large diced size to get it to compost faster. Big stuff takes forever, little stuff is surprisingly fast, so make everything really small.

35 Surprising things you can Compost

Composting yard waste and vegetable leftovers makes sense, but did you know you can compost dryer lint?  Crazy, right?  It turns out there are a ton of things that you can compost that might surprise you.

Check them out in the list below.

Frugal Gardening Links

Beginning a project well means researching carefully.  In wandering around the web, I found some great blogs and pages to help with planning the garden.  Check 'em out!