My Last Word On Worms

O.K., so I'm a little obsessed. I promise this is the last time I will subject you to worm photos.

I have learned from the interwebs that my worms are actually Tobacco Hornworms. They are differentiated from the Tomato Hornworm by their red "horn" and their vertical white stripes. Fascinating, I know.

I also learned that the female Tobacco Hornworm moth will lay a single egg on multiple leaves of the same plant. And what do I see first thing this morning?

I found ten or so on my Better Boy.

Oh, and this guy too.

That is the end of the worm pictures.

Even Daisy is bored with them.

Invasion

Seemingly overnight we have been invaded by hordes of Hornworms.

I hose down the deck everyday, so it is pretty easy to tell when they show up.

Some days I will look until my eyes hurt and not find one.

Other days, I can spot a monster like one from across the yard, then I call the macho bug killer of the household to dispose of the nasty thing (with his bare hands!). I do not touch caterpillars unless they are fuzzy, cute Monarch Butterfly caterpillars.

My Hornworm vision was working today and I found at least ten of the little boogers.

They really are beautiful in their own way, perfectly disguised to do their job without being detected by birds or other predators,

like women with scissors.

The Uneventful Garden

It's not that I am a lazy or neglectful garden blogger, it's just that container gardening is pretty low maintenance and there just is not much to report right now.

So here is a picture report card of what is going lately.

The Tomato Hornworms have arrived. If you look closely, you can see the disgusting thing in the dead center of this picture. I try to find them and pick them off before they get this big. But the little buggers have perfect camouflage and I miss some.

The hanging tomatoes are hanging in there. The cherries (the two on the right) are doing fine, but the Early Girl is struggling to set fruit in the heat.

The two non-hanging tomatoes(not pictured) seem to be doing well despite the heat and bugs.

The four varieties of melons are developing nicely. I think that Honeydew in the background is going to go on the Father's Day dinner table tonight.

The Bush Star in the foreground has a way to go.

Cantaloupes are looking good.

Sugar Baby Watermelons are coming along nicely. Only two developed fully though, a few others that started to develop became stunted and eventually shriveled up. I have no clue why.

The Dusky Eggplant is loaded with fruit.

We've eaten a few and they are so delicious grilled or roasted in the oven.

A typical harvest.

The Lemon Cucumbers are a disappointment. The skin is thick and they are very seedy. Picking them small helps but not enough to justify keeping them. I am going to pull them out and plant something else in their container.

Beets, baby carrots and some monster zucchinis. That is lettuce and swiss chard greens soaking in the bowl. I sprinkle new lettuce seeds every two weeks or so for a constant supply. It does fine in filtered shade as long it doesn't dry out.

I don't have the huge glut of tomatoes that I used to get but there is enough for fresh tomatoes just about everyday.

One of my favorite ways to serve tomatoes is to slice them, put fresh mozzarella in between the layers and drizzle them with vinaigrette. Add a few greens and it is a perfect salad.

Happy Fathers Day!