Oh, it has really been a gardening month to remember. A neighbor alerted us to the presence (he claims he had really seen them!!!) of two young black bears in a local drive way. Probably mine! Since I have a very large compost pile, lots of expended plants due to drought, and a few buggy/bird-pecked apples in the compost I can see where it would be the local diner for bears. I found a few tracks that could be suspicious but nothing compared to what I'd seen of bear prints all winter and spring past.
And the bear snorts haven't been anywhere as prevalent as this past spring. My question is where are the bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes?
To return to a more normal pest, here is "Anthony," the monster Tobacco Hornworm! I've never seen one bug eat so much in a couple of days as this little bugger did. How did he know to only eat the tops off the determinate tomatoes? Left all of the indeterminates alone. When I met him, he had a mouth full of leaves and was happily munching away. Took me too long to find the camera and have him/her pose! Well, perhaps they know that the cold weather is coming and they have to help the plant adjust. It is to be 38 degrees F. tonight. We had the first real rain last night, one and a half inches. That brings us up to 6 inches for the entire year. Happy is a gardener who gets a good rain. Which will help the plants survive.
