Michelle vs. the Squash Bugs

This is WAR!  Last year I naively planted yellow squash.  Without a care in the world I watched the most beautiful plants come forth.  They were huge with equally large, orange flowers.  I was amazed and impressed with my own green thumb.  Then I saw them.  They were small brown bugs shaped like a leaf.  I had no idea what kind of bugs they were but soon I started to notice my lovely plants begin to wither and die.  What could be wrong, I wondered?  I did some research and found out those little bugs were the reason for my plants demise.  I only saved two small squash before all my plants died.  I was too late to save them.

This year will be different.  There is no way I will let those little fellows eat my plants to oblivion. 

This year's squash.  Beautiful!

I went out to do an inspection today and found squash bugs again.  This time I got moving.  I had read that one way to kill them was to pluck them off the plants and drop them in soapy water.  Wow, it sounded so easy.  I went out armed with a glass of soapy water and one yellow kitchen glove (Hey, it wasn't that I didn't want to touch them...).  Turns out that squash bugs are very fast and my hand disguised as as squash didn't help.  I was able to catch about 15 bugs and kill them.  Next came chemical warfare.  Yes, I am sure they never saw that coming.  Hopefully, in the next week we can see fewer bugs and more veggies.

PS. Japanese Beetle: YOUR NEXT!