pests

Well, it seems the stinkbugs invited their friends the butterfly and the beetles over to my tomatoes for a little get together! See them here, all enjoying some juicy tomato puree? I quit. The fight has gone all out of me and I’m content to let them feast for the brief time the plants have left. Shame on me, I know, but I can’t seem to focus on the tomatoes any more. I guess it’s because the last 3 or 4 tomatoes I took off of this plant were hard and white and green inside while they seemed very red and ripe outside, so it’s not like I’m giving up a delicious crop. I actually sliced some last week and threw them away. So sad. But they were good while they lasted. And now I’m just hosting a big bug bash!

This is a familiar scene in my garden. These darn bugs have moved in again and are having a banquet on my tomatoes. Neem oil kept them at bay twice before, but I’ve run out and I may well have run out of will, too! I suppose I will get some more and try to salvage one last crop before it freezes. They are so annoying! They were almost posing for me here!

The bugs seems to have missed my squash for now, knock wood. A few blooms are turning into veggies – I hope they hurry before we have frost! Grow, grow~quickly!

Pruned up my mountain laurels today. The previous homeowner planted a row of them along the driveway — UNDER the crape myrtles. While they aren’t too big yet, they will be, and even now, they lean plaintively to east and the sun — sad and lacking on their west sides. And one must have blown over as a young plant, because its trunk is almost horizontal. But I love mountain laurels, so I’ve cleaned them up a little and tried to help the little one look more like an actual tree and the other 5 plants.