Fire=good

Last night's carnage

Why did I have to go through the trouble of burning the squash plants? The bugs tend to have the disgusting habit of hiding out in mulch over the winter. I didn't want to take the risk of a repeat performance next year by recycling them in the compost piles. The little f*ers can't see too well in the near-dark, and they were mostly too young to fly, so I harvested the plants, the mulch, and some of the surrounding soil and piled the lot on a medium-sized fire. It was kind of like throwing wet blankets on the blaze, though; next year, if this happens again, I will make sure it is a house-sized fire. And next year, I will grow the squash under floating row covers and hand-pollinate!