William,

I feel your pain and understand your frustration.

We had 6 or 7 great winter squash/pumpkin years here at our place before the SVBs found us. Since they found us and our garden, I tend to mostly plant C. moschata types of squash because the SVBs don't bother them much, if at all. Otherwise, if I plant C. pepo or other types, I am compelled to grow them under floating row cover to protect them. Unfortunately that adds one more chore to the 'to do' list in the garden, because you have to lift the cover and hand-pollinate the flowers since the row cover also excludes the pollinators.

My dream garden would include a high tunnel/hoophouse type structure that was covered with window screen type material instead of greenhouse plastic so I could grow all the pumpkins and winter squash I want without having to watch the SVBs get them virtually every year. We are not likely to ever build such a structure, but I can dream about it!

Dawn