Bugs - the bad and the ugly!

It's been too long since the last post, but we've been busy!  The good news is that we have started to harvest zucchini (ok, you probably have too many!) and beans, potatoes, tomatoes, cukes and other veggies should be ready soon.  By the way, the peanut experiment didn't work, but it was fun to try.

Happily the dogs (and their owners) are now accustomed to the garden, and we have had far fewer fence mending episodes.  The latest battle is with tomato horn worms--they look like something out of a cheap horror flick--big, fat and bright green.  Horn worms camouflage themselves superbly;  they are the color of the tomato plant, AND, they will put up a huge fight to not get picked off the plant.  They devour the tomato leaves, and left unchecked, would decimate all of our plants.  However, after lots of picking, and not too many tomato stems stripped, we think we got 'em for now.  P.S.  Karyn is offering 50 cents for each horn worm picked and destroyed--I think her kids are getting rich!

The other battle of the garden is in the cucumber and squash families which are being snacked on by the cucumber beetle.  We have picked hundreds (maybe more) of these nasty creatures, but they seem to reproduce at a rapid speed.  Hopefully we can eliminate them and save our produce.

It is interesting (and frustrating) to experience these pests that don't typically appear in a small home garden--but when planting a large plot, they call in all their family members for the big feast!

Speaking of things that are interesting, how about the weather this summer?  Brutally hot July, followed by a wet and cool (so far) August.  Never a dull moment for gardeners!