the demise of the hornworm

I have wanted to post a picture of these guys since I started the blog, and finally got some photos this year. I find it impossible to see these worms (they blend in with the plants perfectly) except when one of the wasps has laid its eggs on it. The first year or so that I grew tomatoes I had an awful problem with these worms eating them up and just devastating my crop. Luckily, their natural predators, the braconid wasp, came to the rescue. Since then we have not had any problem, as the wasps seem to find all of the hornworms and dispense with them (that is, by laying its eggs inside the worm, which then produce the cocoons you see in the picture).

mystery substance

Could this be alien vomit? That is my best guess. I feel like an idiot showing my ignorance, but I am hoping that one of you will explain why I keep finding things like this in my yard. Sorry for the gross picture!

hooray for strawberries!

This is how I currently manage to take the girls into the garden. I load up the double-seater wagon grandma got us, and we head out. The strawberries are a big hit, as the

one wonderful year with the girls

first crop of garlic

Finally harvested the garlic a couple of weeks ago. I had planted bulbs from a sampler pack (I chose the “rare and heirloom 8-pack) that I got from The Garlic Store. I was quite late in harvesting, as I didn’t realize that you were supposed to harvest before the plant was completely dead. Oh well! The picture above is of shatili garlic. We have done taste comparisons of shatili, chinese pink, french germinador, and shantung purple. To be honest, I really can’t tell a difference between them (at least eating it raw, by dipping bread in olive oil with minced garlic). Perhaps I don’t have a refined palate to appreciate the differences. In any case, it is nice to eat my own fresh garlic instead of garlic shipped all the way from China.

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