more fruit!

I don't think I mentioned it, but the cantaloupe plant in the back did produce 2 cantaloupe. One of the fruits decided to stop growing and it just kinda sat there looking half-ripe for a long time (one side of the fruit had netting, the other side didn't). That one, was flavorless. Completely and utterly flavorless. It didn't taste bad, it just tasted like gelled water really.

The second one, however, was pretty good. It wasn't great, but it was pretty good, and when cantaloupes cost $1.29 at the store, and I only paid $0.80 for the seeds, I think it's a pretty good deal. This was the funny cantaloupe that originally started out wedged between the liner bricks and the fence, so for a long time it looked retarded. But it eventually rounded out and as i said, was good enough for government work.

Overall, I'd say I'd suggest the Hearts of Gold cantaloupe and the Cayenne peppers. Both have done well. The Roma tomatoes are good (as long as you don't eat a lot of tomatoes).

Spiders abound because it's been so damn wet the mosquitos have taken over.

Spinybacked Orbweaver web in the setting sun.

I know what's eating the beans

Okay, so it looks like the slugs and snails go gah gah over the bean seedlings. grr.

Toads too!

various pictures of the Anole I found in the yard today...

This one is actually a really bad photo...but I just call it 'Artsy'. And really, I probably should have cropped all of them...meh, I'm lazy.

Yay for Hymenoptera Braconidae

Yep, that's right, we've got Parasitic Wasps. Yay!!!! Here they are eating a hornworm:
The wasp pupae are the little white grains of rice on the worm. Eventually, they will kill the worm and eat it. Furthermore, they are called 'wasps' but they aren't harmful to humans. Is it any wonder that some people will pay good money to buy some of these wasps to naturally control garden pests like caterpillars, ants, and aphids?

Caterpillars (8-5-07)

It's okay though, these ones are most likely Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars. They like plants in the carrot family (carrots, dill, fennel, parsley). Had I known about the parsley and the fact that the butterflies and caterpillars would be here, I probably wouldn't have been so keen on eradicating the excess parsley from the garden. (both pictures unedited, and I used the telephoto lens on "macro" mode).

Caterpillar about ready to pupate (make its little chrysalises thing). (Backyard garden)

Smaller caterpillar. If you click on the picture to see the full sized image, you can just make out little 'horns' on the back. These go away as the caterpillar gets closer to pupating. (front yard garden--this parsley plants was one that I cut down to the ground and it started coming back).

Also, I found a praying mantis, but by the time I got inside to get the camera, it was gone.

I severely cut back the tomato plants--because of all the rain we've been getting, the tomatoes haven't been doing so well and the leaves all started turning yellow and looking rotten. The last couple of times I've pulled fruit off, it's had soft spots on it...almost like the fruit itself got too much water in it.

The cantaloupe plant also was getting too much water...it's a good thing it's supposed to be a drying trend now. The plant, though, has 2 cantaloupes and today I went out and fertilized some of the female flowers (I got that idea from this blog that Colin wrote...also, maybe I ought to try a ginormous pumpkin some year soon).

Oh right, because of all the rain, the rosemary plant finally gave up and died. I think I'm going to leave it in the ground though, just to see if it happens to come back next year.