Do you want the good news or the bad news?

UPDATE:

Since Paige is napping I headed out to our pumpkin patch and started poking around again. In between swatting mosquitos and trying not to cry I found another female flower! Here are some pictures that show how the plants look overall plus the two females. You can see there is a lot of leaf damage (presumably from the mildew) but there are a few good vines...

By the way, the yellow flowers are fine. They are only open and pretty for a few hours in the morning...it was 4:00pm and MUGGY when I took these pictures so.....

ALSO
Last week while I was fertiliz-insecti-fungiciding I spotted a HORRIBLE red-moth-bee-monster.

Turns out its a squash vine borer.

And they are bad. Very bad.


IF my insecticide wasn't enough to prevent this horrible thing from laying eggs on the vines then I'm in BIG trouble.

So....

Now I'm on the lookout for tiny eggs, tiny holes, and something called "frass".

And.....

If I find any of the above mentioned items, the only way to rid/save my plants is to locate the area of the vine where I suspect the squash vine borer larvae to be, cut it open and (blech) remove the worm (BLECH)!

ORIGINAL POST:

The good news is the heavy rains we've gotten this weekend provided a nice refreshing drink for the pumpkin patch.

The bad news is it doesn't matter because most of the female flowers have shrivled up and died.

The good news is at least I don't have to worry about the wet weather kicking up the powdery mildew because dead plants don't care!

The bad news is I have to look at said dead plants for several more months.

The good news is despite all the trauma there is one ONE little female flower that seems to be thriving. We still have a chance to get one pumpkin....so....I guess I'll keep you posted....

Here she is. No pressure little lady.....