Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash

We finally had some of the Butternut Squash for dinner last Sunday, and it was excellent.

Cindy planted these in the raised bed behind the garage and constructed panels to keep the varmints from gnawing on them.  (See "Shock, Horror!)

Then she encased them in some old pantyhose to keep the birds from pecking into them.

Cindy finally picked these about a month ago, and they've been maturing since then, so we finally ate some of it.

Roasted, buttered, yum.

Round Up The Usual Suspects

We suspect the varmint that left the teeth marks on the Butternut Squash the other day was probably either a California Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) or some sort of canyon rat.  If it had been a raccoon or a possum, the whole squash would probably have been gone.  If it had been birds, there would have been signs of pecking, but these were pretty healthy chomps by teeth.

There are several types of rats that hang out in the canyon behind us; we know for sure that there are members of the Neotoma species, also known as Wood Rats, Pack Rats or Trade Rats, but we've just been calling them Pack Rats.  We know they're here because we've found two middens in the area.  One midden is on the other side of the driveway wall; the second was destroyed when Greg cleared the brush out from behind the fence.  

Pack rats construct their middens out of whatever material is available, including sticks, twigs, leaves, rocks or whatever.  I left a paintbrush on the driveway wall several years ago and found later that it had been incorporated into the wall of the Pack Rat midden a few feet away.  

About a year ago Cindy left the lid of the compost bin ajar.  When she went to add something to the compost heap, she discovered a Pack Rat staring back up at her; it had evidently climbed or fallen in trying to get at the vegetation in the bin and couldn't get out.  We started calling it "Mickey" on account of its huge round ears.  Anyway, we opened the bottom door of the bin and left the area, and Mickey evidently took to his heels because he was nowhere to be seen when we came back.  

According to the San Diego Natural History Museum, Pack Rats don't need to drink water, but "require quantities of succulent vegetation ... for moisture".  Yup, "succulent vegetation" describes our beautiful Butternut Squash, so Mickey and his cousins are suspects along with the Ground Squirrels.  

Once the anti-varmint panels are finished, they'll all have to go somewhere else for their "succulent vegetation."  Maybe they could try eating some of the humongous jade plants out in the canyon.

Shock! Horror!

Butternut Squash

Varmint toothmarks on the Butternut Squash!  Oh, the horror!

Cindy is very rightly totally pissed off about this.

She has been diligently constructing the varmint repelling shields for the two new raised beds behind the garage, but it's slow going because the beds are an irregular shape and the support posts are inside the beds instead of on the outside as they were on the original raised bed.

That means that each panel has to be custom tailored to fit each individual space for it all to fit together properly, and all the careful measuring and cutting takes time.

Meanwhile, the two Butternut Squash that had set on were growing, and growing, and growing.  Cindy had completed all but three of the panels around the squash bed, when the varmints struck at night.  She found the teeth marks yesterday morning.

It's so disgusting because the squash were coming along so nicely, and the critters got both of them.

The only good thing is the fact that once the panels are finished, they will be useful for many years to come, although that's not much consolation for losing these squash.

Now we need to finish the enclosure to protect the pumpkin bed.

The Bean Poles Are Up

Bean Teepee

The bean poles, or teepee, or structure of whatever you want to call them, are up in the raised beds behind the garage, and the beans have been planted.  They're all under their protective square cages until we can get the new anti-varmint shields finished.

Cindy has been in a hurry to get them planted, but couldn't do it until the irrigation issues were resolved, and now that they are planted, we have to finish the protective screens so that the squirrels don't nibble the sprouts off before they get started.  Considering the damage the squirrels have already inflicted on the pumpkin and the butternut squash plants, that could be considerable damage.

The pumpkin has started putting out flowers and the leaves are huge, but nothing has set on yet.

Guardian Of The Pumpkins At Work

Cindy stationed one of her garden art pieces, a ferocious looking blue bird, to guard the pumpkins, and he's hard at work.

Butternut Squash Trellis

The Butternut Squash plant is already happily climbing up its trellis and a couple of small squash have already set on.  So, as long as the squirrels don't eat them before we can get the screens completed, we should have some squash this fall.