I was so excited to see my first cucumber a couple days ago, this morning I noticed it is turning yellow. It’s only about three inches long. Suggestions on what might have gone wrong?

If you want more melons, squash, and cucumbers this year, the secret isn't just soil and sun. It's flowers. 🌻 Here's a good rule of thumb I use in my own garden: for every 3 vegetable plants, plant at least 1 flower. Some veggies rely on pollinators to produce fruit. But veggie blooms alone often aren't enough to catch their attention, especially early in the season before your vegetables even start flowering. Think of flowers as the billboard. Their bright colors and strong scent are basically advertising "food here!" to any pollinator flying by. Once they land in your garden for the flowers, they'll naturally visit your vegetable blooms too. 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 Not all pollinators are drawn to the same things, so a mix of flowers brings a mix of helpers: 🐝 Bees love purple, blue, and yellow flowers like lavender, bee balm, hyssop, and sunflowers 🦋 Butterflies go for clustered or flat, open blooms in red, orange, and pink, like zinnias, lantana, and coneflowers, because they give them a place to land 🐦 Hummingbirds are drawn to tubular, red or orange flowers like salvia, California fuchsia, and trumpet vine 🌙 Moths prefer pale or white flowers that open in the evening, like moonflower or evening primrose, since they're active at night Planting a variety means you're rolling out the welcome mat for more than just bees. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 Pollinators need water just like we do, and having a source right in your garden makes a huge difference. A bird bath or small fountain works great. If there's no water nearby, pollinators have to leave your garden to find some elsewhere, which means less time pollinating your plants. But if you've got water right there, they can take a quick drink, rest for a second, and get right back to work. However, bees and other small pollinators can actually drown in open water. So, toss a few flat stones, rocks, marbles, or corks into the bird bath or fountain so they have something to land on while they drink. A shallow dish with pebbles works just as well if you don't have a bird bath.

Tonight I was really out there watering my gardens good as the next three days are going to be in the mid to upper 90° temps. Wanted to make sure the beds were good and ready for the heat. While checking over the squash plants I noticed holes. They appeared after some big storms we had so didn’t think a lot about it though I would lift leaves and check for bugs. Wasn’t really sure what I was truly looking for, but would take pics of anything I found and google good or bad. Well, tonight a discovered about four leaves with clusters of eggs on them and saw a bug so grabbed my camera and kept playing with it until I got a good pic of it. He kept moving around the trellis and went to hang with his two best of buddies! I finally know what a squash bug looks like! I removed the leaves with the eggs and tossed them in the trash which will be going out to the curb tomorrow morning and taken to the local dump…. My husband’s ex wife, whom I have become very good friends with had just today sent a box of things over that had been in her dad’s garage. A bottle of eco friendly plant soap and two containers of Seven! Perfect timing. The plants have all been dusted! But not before spraying the bugs with the plant soap. lol.

This is the 3rd bag of tatties I've lifted, the first the leaves were damaged in the wind and the tatties were tiny, getting better as we go along! My partner maybe fed up with them soon lol I've not told him yet I've just got more seed tatties for Xmas planting lol 😂

And how are you feeling about it? - Confident and crushing it? - Wishing you had a little more direction? - Somewhere in-between?