Friday, August 29, 2008

Blister Beetles on attack!

So after the deluge we got from the remnants of Fay, we are sinking in our muck boots and recovering from sleeping way too much while it was raining. We still can't believe the time of year....almost Sept.? Is this for real? Stuart and I have gotten thrills for weeks whenever we look at our last planting of tomatoes---until this past Monday when we discovered blister beetles thriving on the plants.
We should call them little poop machines. They are really taking a toll on what seemed to be our healthiest tomato planting in some time. I didn't know what they were until we looked them up online after I had squished about 100 of them with my fingers. Lo and behold, their name is true to form. I had four very large and juicy blisters come up on my skin--three near my neck and one on my arm. Stuart asked me what happened and I said, "Gosh, I don't remember being burned." And then we looked up the bug online.......FOOLS!
Other than dealing with these pests (we hear companion planting works but it's a little late for that), we've been sowing minute flower seed. This little pile in my hand is 1000 seed. Crazy.

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