Yikes, came home from errands, two weeks after planting, to find the squash wilted and crunchy. Its not even hot yet! The thermometer in reading a mere 82 F.
Definitely need to apply mulch to the buckets.
Mulching has many wonderful benefits such as weed reduction, increased soil structure/protection and decreased soil compaction/run-off. Edible buckets only benefit from mulch is to protect against water evaporation. There are numerous ways to mulch and it can be organic/non-organic. I chose the re-usage of composted materials: decomposing hay/horse manure mixture left over from the Yee-Haw Riders on their way to the rodeo a month ago. It was readily available and cheap. Did I say cheap, I meant free and that is even better!
(The pic is of squash after mulching and before adding a tad of water. The soil was still moist but not where it should have been after just watering yesterday. See how puny it is....)
