Project Garden Noob - Year 6

Our latest garden development has been animal destruction.  Everyone said we'd have an issue with the rabbits.  Because of hubby's awesome fence, that hasn't been an issue. But recently, our near ripe tomatoes were suddenly being eaten (sadly, I have somehow not taken pictures of the devastation).  We were worried about two culprits - rats and squirrels. Squirrels seemed like an obvious culprit.  We were finding tomato chunks in the yard and  this one in the tree.  I apologize for the truly terrible picture.  But you get the idea.  Limb, red blob = tomato. Rats we were a little skeptical about.  I've never seen a rat in Colorado, but we noticed that something was digging holes underneath the fence that faces a busy street and we didn't think it could be rabbits because the tomatoes are in cages, and the damaged tomatoes were high off the ground.  Something had to be climbing.  Hubby decided to get traps and make some fanc...

So remember pumpkin looking like it had a cocaine problem? Here are some close ups Asked the Grandpa.  He had no clue.  I was floored, this has to be bad if a man who's been gardening for over 30 years had no clue what I was talking about.  I took to Facebook, because I have a fair amount of gardening friends (3), and thought I'd venture there.  Yes, I'm too lazy to Google.  The verdict was mildew, thank JC.  She suggested a combo of milk and water and if that didn't work the ever mentioned neem oil. I tried the milk and water.  Nada.  This was right around Labor Day weekend.  Now, as mentioned before, I have a great nursery around 15 minutes away, but I find them a little spendy.  So I was lazy and waited until after Labor Day to hit up the nursery by my office.  Mistake. Mildew spreads.  And worsens.  Fast.  The mildew is now on the pumpkin, zucchini, spaghetti squash, and cucumber.  Tomatoes, than...

August went pretty well, mostly good growth, really got some harvesting done.  Here was a batch of veggies I sent home to my mother-in-law. So nice to have little vegetables coming out of the garden. The tomatoes and zucchini have been doing their thing.  Still a little leaf roll on the tomatoes, but 5 out of 9 plant seem to be doing alright. Zucchini has been zucchini (Where did that one come from?!). Oh the pumpkin.  I will never put a pumpkin within the confines of a garden again.  I feel I can safely say that was our biggest noob mistake this year.  Pumpkins crawl, EVERYWHERE.  No plant or fence is safe. I've had to chop it back several times and remove it's creepy tendrils from the tomato plants. See how well it got outside the fence. Yeah. Sadly, if you look closely in this picture, you will notice some white spots on the pumpkin and zucchini plants, like someone dusted them with flour, or perhaps cocaine.  Hello mildew...