While I was harvesting lettuce in bed 4 this morning something caught my eye. When I took a closer look I saw it, Mother Nature's pest control...
Photo Below: An ant carrying a green aphid. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
and then I saw this... a team of two ants carrying this small green looper.
And when I couldn't be any more amazed, while I was working on the garden lights this little gal was flying past me.... Note that two of the holes are filled in with what looks to be dirt.
Since I needed this outlet for the garden lights I pulled it off to clean it out. As I was pulling out the dirt I was also pulling out live baby loopers. She had been packing the holes with food. Needless to say I was wowed by the pest world today.
As I said above I harvested some baby lettuce which weighed in at 1.6 oz's.
I was also able to pick some "Oriental Giant" spinach weighing in at 1.8 oz's.
As well as the Catalina Baby Leaf spinach weighing in at 1 oz.
All in all I added another 4.4 oz's to my total harvest.
I was happy to see lots of carpenter bees in the garden today. I only saw one honey bee though.
Photo Below: Black carpenter bee in a male spaghetti squash flower.
Then the bee moved to the female flower. This is good... very good.
I planted 3 squares of Italian Pesto Basil and 3 squares of Italian Cameo Basil in bed 3.
Over in bed 2 the English Cucumbers are growing very nicely.
Photo Below: The pole beans are starting to mix in with the sugar snap peas.
The Pumpkin on a Stick is showing a few buds.
This is not the prettiest plant in the garden but I can't wait to see if I get mini pumpkins on a stick.
Photo Below: Another pumpkin on a stick trying to grow out of the compost bin. If you remember the story from a previous post I had thrown the pumpkin on a stick into my compost bin and then a week or so later I retrieved some of the pumpkins to see if I could collect the seeds and grow them. Well as you can see I left some behind.
Random Photos...
Photo Below A Blue Jay collecting coco hair for her nest.
Most people freak out about ants in their garden, but I really like mine! Having lots of beneficial insects in the garden is awesome, more the reason to not just use sevin dust everywhere. The garden is coming along nicely!
ReplyDeleteHaving the bees is a good thing (as I'm sure you already know). You might consider making/buying one of those bee houses. John has some you can peek at.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jbest123.com/?s=bees
wow liisa, amazing photos!
ReplyDeletei'm a new follower, and i enjoy your blog. =) i JUST started gardening and i love it!
The insect world is an amazing place when we stop to notice the little details of their daily lives. So cool!
ReplyDeleteEG,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have a new appreciation for ants that's for sure. Now when I'm harvesting my lettuce and I know they are also harvesting right along side me. :-)
Hi Cheryl,
I was thinking about buying mason bees but didn't. I had lots of bees in the yard last year. They love my angels trumpet and the passion vine. Maybe they will come a little later in the season. I'll go check out what John has. Thanks!
Hi Kelli!
Welcome to my blog. I'm so glad you enjoy reading it. Thanks on the photo compliment. I have to take lots of photos to get the few good one :0) Welcome to gardening... One little piece of wisdom I can pass on... be patient.... very, very patient ;-)
Jenn,
Good to hear from you. I think I'm staring to turn into a bug girl... not that I don't jump when something jumps or flies at me... but I'm getting better around them.