Fatalities

Some plants that didn't make it:

Sunflowers - they were doing fine and then starting to droop so I propped them up with stakes. Then one day I went out there and found the heads of the sunflowers had been either chewed off or knocked off.

Squash - it didn't make it last year, and it didn't make it this year. It does not like wet conditions. Florida always goes through a storm season where we get tons of rain. The squash plants then rot. The same thing happened to the cantaloupe plants last year. I thought having them on a trellis would help them out but it didn't. The squash simply don't like to have their roots or stem wet.

Corn - the corn appears to have been killed by a critter or pests. At first we were noticing holes dug around the corn. Around this time I also spotted a raccoon out back at night. Then later we found the corn either chewed off or broken and trampled.

Morning glories - I planted them around the base of trees out back, but they didn't make it. Either not enough water or no place to latch onto and climb. They did not want to climb directly on the trees. They much prefer fences or trellises.

Harvest

Here's only a portion of what we harvested lately.

Friend or foe?

I wake this morning to find five of these caterpillars on my dill, destroying it. At first I tried to pick one off but he reared up at me and then I thought maybe I shouldn't be touching it because it might be poisonous. So considering the condition of my dill, either chewed off or turned brown from the damage that they caused, I decided to go get the pesticide and I sprayed the plant down. Then I sprayed the surrounding plants just in case. We have been using the dill to make pickles, and we grow the cucumbers in the bed next to the dill.

A few minutes later I looked up the caterpillar and what type it was. As it turns out these caterpillars would have become beautiful black swallowtail butterflies. So then I started feeling guilty, but I already sprayed them, so what could I do at this point? I walked back out there to look and I saw that the spray had already taken effect. But on the other hand I didn't want any further damage to my garden.

I still don't know if I made the right choice.

This n that

Not much "gardening" lately, but lots of harvesting! Woo hoo! Planted some herbs in the one AG. The other still has petunias going crazy!

Here is a friend that visited the yard this weekend.



Also here's the latest project! Set up the fishtank again!

Okra flower

Spiders

These spiders have taken up residence in the tomato bed, building webs between the plants. I've been told they are a type of orchard spider and are not poisonous. They sure do catch a lot of bugs! (Thanks for the help, guys!)