I took out the four romas in the corner yard and now only have the heatwave and celebrity growing in the side yard where I found the four hornworms. Those plants are doing so much better in that location since they get full sun. I'm thinking of moving all of my tomatoes and peppers over there next year. The side yard gets double the amount of sun as both corner yards and you can certainly tell the difference in production and general health of plants. The boxes back there are only two feet wide, but if I plant tomatoes and peppers in the back row of the longest box, I can plant smaller items in front of them.
I'm also looking in to moving the trellis up one square in the corner yard's large box. This way, I can plant on both sides of the trellis and double my square feet for trellising that box. I'm a bit worried that I'll destroy the entire trellis by attempting to move it and I couldn't secure the netting to the bottom anymore, but it's worth a shot. I could always weave a bit of pipe through the bottom of the mesh to weight it down. It's a project I might just start working on tomorrow instead of waiting for spring. If I can get it done, I may get one more planting of beans in and then have the extra space for my peas as well. How fun!
The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.
Ewww... I had those hornworms about a month ago, but after several evenings of diligent picking and flicking finally got rid of 'em. I didn't know the white things were parasitic waspies... talk about uncomfortable! ;)
ReplyDeleteThat is cool to see the hornworm with the wasp eggs on it. Those hornworms freak me out, I'd probably run like a girl if I found one :-)
ReplyDeleteJamie, they're yuckie, aren't they. I figured I was doing them a favor by putting them in soapy water. They didn't look comfortable.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Dan, I'm the first to scream like a girl, but these things are oddly cute. The freaky thing is how HUGE they are. One was the length of my index finger.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome photo! I wish mine had been hosting, those parasitic wasps are good beneficials to have in the garden and hard to come by!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Erin. I was happy to see the wasps on most of them, but I still put them in the soapy water. I knew they were done for, but I just couldn't let them sit there, even though the good guys had my....or rather their...backs.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! Question.....how is the "heatwave" performing for you? I wanted to grow some next year...
ReplyDeletePretty well, I must say. It's flowering like mad. I've had two ripe ones, but my neighbors ate them since I was out of town. I'll let you know how they taste when another ripens. They're small, but there's a lot of them. However, the hornworms seem to love them.
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