Thursday, August 25, 2011

Garden Update

It's late August and the summer has brought a fair amount of excitement to the land of the fire escape. A view from below shows a summer of growth.


Much of the growth has been due to the wet summer we've had, and regular watering to offset the super hot days. Although, the rain has been hard to manage, especially for my compost when it comes in hard and sideways.


But most importantly I got fruit this year: Mostly cucumbers and peppers.




However the other day I found something peculiar. One of my tomato plants was gnawed to the stems. It was completely stripped.


After a quick investigation. I found the culprit.


A tomato hornworm. Turns out these are pretty damaging machines, as I had learned the hard way. Although fortunately for me, there are these braconid wasps out there who like to control the tomato hornworm population by laying their eggs on the worms and slowly eating out their insides. I didn't really believe it when I heard it until I looked out the window and saw it being done...twice...pretty intense sight to see.



But all in all, the garden is still well. If only I could grow some friggin broccoli...



No comments: