May 12, 2023
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warner archive, doc savage, odor, green worms
Week 4: Pests
This week, I am happy to report that the temperatures managed to remain below the triple digits nearly all week, and we even got a fair amount of moisture. Since I realized last week that something was already enjoying the fruits of my labor, I made the commitment to climb in the garden and do some detective work. I was determined to find someone or something to pin this on—there has been much damage. It took some searching, but I finally uncovered the major offender. Actually, I found four.
This too-close-up picture shows the first fat, juicy worm found inching around under the large leaves of my squash and melon plants. I looked briefly for more, but didn’t have a lot of time. I’m hoping to be able to do another once-over this weekend. I’m a little afraid to ignore it more than a day or two without searching because of the major destruction that has already occurred.
Other than being eaten generously by these hornworms, the garden is doing really well. The Kale and eggplant have really suffered the worst of it, as can be seen from the picture below.
Supplies have been acquired to begin constructing a second plot—the tomato plot—and I just need to start carving out the dirt so C can put the barriers in place when he has time. Right now it looks like we’ll be lucky to get the seeds in the ground by Labor Day, but that’s got to be my ultimate target.
Goal for this weekend is to take the melons and squash vertical. I feel a little challenged by this idea but I know it can be done. I’ll start training the plants up. Right now they’re starting to go around the inside of the chicken wire enclosure and their large leaves are obstructing the sun from the smaller plants. I had been worried about the rabbits eating everything initially but the birds proved to be even more destructive than I imagined. So I’m excited to take the vertical approach and hopefully it works out well and I don’t snap any stems!