Hello all,

I've really enjoy reading all your gardening stories and questions the last few years, but this is the first time I've posted one of my own.

Sadly, I just pulled up my pumpkin and watermelon vines after they started out beautifully. Very suddenly--it only took about three days--my formerly robust vines were attacked and completely destroyed by bugs. I did a web search and identified them as squash bugs and spotted cucumber beetles.

I have two questions now. First, I've read that to help repel the same critters next time, I should plant radishes with the pumpkin vines. I will try that. But, I'm wondering whether there's a cover crop I can grow in that part of the garden through the remainder of fall and maybe winter that might create a hostile environment for whatever eggs and larvae from these bugs are already in the soil. Any ideas?

Secondly, as I was pulling out the vines, I discovered another bug I've never seen before. It was very pretty as bugs go...but I wonder whether it, too, contributed to the demise of my pumpkins and watermelons! I don't have capability to post a photo. The insect had a body shape just like a stink bug, right down to the "horns" on its back, but it was larger, perhaps 3/4 inch long, and broader. The underside of the body was a brilliant reddish-orange. The top of the body was all black except for three spots of the same reddish-orange. The spots formed a triangle. Two of the spots were sort of tear-drop shaped while the third was round. Does anyone have any idea what kind of bug this is? If so, is it harmful to my plants?