Hornworm Predators

With the help of parasitic wasps and ladybugs, the war on hornworms has begun.  This morning I found a wasp eating the head of a small hornworm right next to a ladybug feasting on the larvae.  I killed four, so hopefully together we can prevail.

Pickling

Made my Grandma's Freezer Pickles several days ago and left them in the fridge in tupperwares.  This morning I put them in jars and into the deep freeze.  I also sliced up pickle spears for dills. They seem a little trickier, because I am probably going to have to sterilize and pasteurize.

Freezer Pickles going into jars.

Freezer Pickles

Dill Pickle spears chilling in salt water.

Cooler Weather

It got down to 65 degrees last night.  Felt so nice to be chilly in a t-shirt this morning.  This coupled with a really good watering yesterday, and the garden has kind of bounced back.

Green zebra tomato that almost got eaten by a hornworm.

Garden peach tomatoes starting to get peachy.

The corn should be pollinating right now.  

Tomatillos

Yellow pear tomatoes.

Terrible Drought

Two months with very little rain.  I think we are 3+ inches behind.  It was so hot the last three weeks. It seemed like it was over 105 the whole time.  The grass looks burnt (you can see it behind the picture of the hornworm on the trowel) and it has been impossible to water the garden as much as is necessary. 

Still looks like I will get a lot of tomatoes, and we got tons of cucumbers.  Corn and green beans might be a lost cause at this point.  At least the weather is cooler and I am hoping for a little rain.  As always.

Hornworm right before execution.

Hornworm on my plant!

Hornworm Scat

Hornworm damage.

Love-In-A-Mist

Love-In-A-Mist

Primrose Sunflower

Primrose Sunflower

Five Lined Skink

Cucumbers for dill pickles.