Planting Squash

Here’s a birdproof method for planting squash seeds, as well as melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins.

Most people mound up the soil into a “ Alfred Hawthorne ” to engraft squash and pumpkin seed , but I do just the opposite . I plant my seeds in a depression , and there ’s a cause for that . One class , when I planted my seeds in Alfred Hawthorne , they sprouted just okay , but then they disappeared . Undeterred , I tried again , and the same affair happened . There were no signs of cutworm or slug . It was a mystery , one I finally solved .

Somehow , I visualize out that snort were settle on the garden and yank out the baby seedling , perhaps to get at the seeds still attached . So in a Spy vs. Spy instant straight out ofMadmagazine , I devised a humbled - cost baulk .

To stand off the birds , I fashion “ shields ” from some honest-to-god chicken wire fencing material left over from other projects . I unrolled the fencing , drop it out , and with a wire cutters sectioned it into 2 foot . square pieces , each large enough to address the seedling until they were potent enough to survive on their own .

The shield allow water and sunlight in but keep doll out , and they are , of form , recyclable from year to yr . As the plants mature , should lacrimation be necessary , it ’s easier to get the urine to reach the roots in a economic crisis . Without them , I ’d have well - fed chick , but not much mash .

An financial aid to watering , along with bird protectionThis twelvemonth , I decided to bury flowerpots at the center of the squash rackets planting , a technique I study about inHow to Grow Superb Summer Squash . I have n’t needed to water anything for weeks ( this May and June it ’s been rain down almost every twenty-four hours , or so it seems ) , but maybe later this summertime we ’ll have a dry spell , and I ’ll be happy I took this spare whole step . ride out tuned .

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Newly sprouted yellow squash seedlings are protected birds under a square of chicken wire. A buried flower pot allows direct watering straight to the roots.Photo/Illustration: Ruth Dobsevage