| Have you had issues with the striped cucumber beetle and squash vine borer? Here is a tip from the Springfield Organic Gardening Club.
Try planting daikon radishes, pictured, at the base of every squash and cucumber. They can effectively eliminate striped cucumber beetle and squash vine borer beetle problems. They produce a root exudate that cucumber beetles ingest and find disgusting.
Side benefits of the deep growing radish are that it helps pull up nutrients from lower soil depths that don't exist at shallow depths. You can cut off the tops and let the daikon decompose in the ground to add that rich organic matter to your soil and encourage beneficial organisms, or you can harvest it to make delicious food. The Asians have been using it as a staple vegetable for hundreds of years.
There are many recipes online to browse. For top 10 ways to enjoy daikon radishes go here.
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