I found this approach to dealing with high summer attacks on the vegetable patch inspiring--a nonpesticide approach to gardening. I didn't know what some of the New Zealand plants are, but maybe there is a North American alternative.

http://permaculturenews.org/20...

http://www.arkive.org/sodoms-a...

Sodom's Apple

I'm still looking for the permaculture solution to squash bugs.

This is what Barbara Pleasant of Mother Earth News has to say about squash bugs:

http://www.motherearthnews.com...

Looks like chickens or ducks might be a good idea.

I am indeed experimenting with chickens in the garden this year.

Let us know how it works.

My experience with chickens and guineas in the garden is disaster! You'll swear someone tilled up areas as they scratch and they eat everything, except squash bugs! But that's my experience. If someone else has a better one, i'd like to hear about it.

Yeah, the chickens will eat everything, starting with your fruit, then your good plants, and finally the weeds.

My experiment is in letting the chickens completely clear the garden of all vegetation, then removing the birds from the area and then planting. We've already harvested turnips and potatoes from one field. There were no potato beetles in that area, whereas there were potato beetles on potato plants grown in a different area of my property. Could be coincidence.

ducks in the garden. My muscovies ate my tomato plants and lilies and others.
The thread "Bad Ducks now eating lilies" in Lilies forum

The chickens scratching around uprooting everything.
They are good in an established orchard or in a garden after to clean it all up.

praying mantis and predatory stink bugs will eat squash bugs.

Good idea edible. I guess row cover might work also.

Putting suet feeders in your garden all winter really helps. In the spring, when things warm up nicely, take the feeders away. The birds are trained to go to your garden ad will come now as eat the bugs. Check out my idea, "Let the Birds do Your Pest Control".

I added a birdbath to my sunny garden bed, hoping to draw in birds to dispatch Japanese beetles. Don't see the birds using the birdbath yet (it's been cool and rainy) but I'll have to remember to place a suet feeder there this winter but have to make it squirrel-proof.
I did purchases some tulle (fabric) last summer when it was on sale and cut it up into big pieces to drape over kale, cabbage and lettuces to keep out the cabbage moths. It's light and open enough that the rain can go through it without weighting it down and doesn't really reduce sunlight going through it. I haven't done a lot of vegetable gardening to date so I don't know if that would help with squash bugs as I have no experience with them.