Baby gourds, pumpkins, and squash bugs

We have a whole new collection of small chicks, but I'm afraid I've given my heart to my baby gourds and pumpkins. This afternoon, I went out to my too-large pumpkin patch and spent a while watching them hiding like shy toddlers behind the huge, lush leaves of their parents.





It's been raining non-stop, except that today it stopped. I think all the rain has made it hard on the squash bugs; there really aren't that many. The squash bugs love pumpkins but not gourds (which are a separate family) and about a month ago I started seeing the tell-tale signs of yellow, spotted leaves. Turn over the leaves and there are neat little rows of orange-brown eggs, and sometimes whole menageries of baby squash bugs.



The curious thing is that often you find multigenerational groups of squash bugs, a couple of medium size ones along with a slew of babies. I don't know if they just like to hang out together or if they actually help each other.

They are awful to (all kinds of) squash. The leaves wilt away and the bugs swarm all over. And they are awful to squash, but I do it anyway.