bb gun, netting, a dog. Probably netting would be easiest, chicken wire. Are you sure there attacking the plants or are they eating the bugs on your tomato plants. I have only had a problems around this time of year. with no water around and the heat they are forced to hydrate themselves with the maters.

Man, that soil looks great. I am jealous,

its kinda under a huge pecan tree but the dirt is full of trash. therres no telling whats gonna come up when you till. that area has always produced really awesome bounties! i love it

oops, it looks nice and loose.

OOOPPPSSS!!!!!killed a few of these bugs today . I thought these were a growing stink bug but there actually assasin bugs


and these I seen them under the leaves and I thought they were eating leaves but they were working on Aphids. They are the begining of a lady bug, lady bug larva.

Oh well, live and learn.

I haven't seen those guys in the garden but I'm pretty sure that's what it is given the descriptions. I'll see what I can do tonight. Tonight might be a 'rip it all out' fest at the DHFisher house.

Also, do you guys think that drilling holes in my beds will be enough to keep the moisture levels under control or do you think I should go through the effort of taking all the soil out, digging out a bunch of dirt and refilling with sand or something that will help drainage then putting the soil back in?

I'd drill the holes and add a SMALL amount of pea gravel to the bottom...

When you say a small amount, are you talking like 1/2 inch or 3 inches. My beds are between 12 to 15 inches tall

Probably about an inch...I'd try and mix it through the soil a bit, but the majority needs to be at the bottom...

Got'm this morning before they got hot!

would be best

Look on page 7.

LSS, what are your plans for a fall garden?

If you mean what will I be planting, I'll be replacing the tomato and squash plants. The cucumber, pepper and watermelon plants seem to be okay...Last year everything continued to produce until the first hard freeze.

well there ya go. Little bassteds

Very nice...

Little bastage.... You can replant. I replanted some zucchini 2-3 weeks ago and they are blooming all ready. I bought the plants all ready started from the depot of course.

I found a worm in the zucchini, cucumber, squash and butternut. I'll be replanting all and hope those little basteds don't come back... can I prevent these little bastages?

It's hard to do...I'd put out Sevin Dust...It's really the only pesticide that's fairly safe on veggies...You do need to read the preharvest information so you know how long to wait after applying it before harvesting...

I believe they MIGHT be gone for the year. I say might because in Southern states 2 generations are possible. The flying bugs I posted are the ones that lay the eggs. The eggs are little brown disk shaped single egg that is attached to the lower part of the stem by the flying bugs, keep a sharp eye out for the eggs and the flying bugs. Remove those and you will remove the worm from hatcing and digging into the stem. They sell some netting that will keep the flying bugs from landing on the squash. If you use sevin be prepared to manually pollinate since it will kill bees also.

pic of eggs

June 22, 2010 Harvest (Picture 1 of 2): 14 Lemon Boy Tomatoes, 50 Tomatoes (mixture of Homestead, Heatwave, Big Boy, Better Boy, and Early Girl), 45 Roma Tomatoes, 1 Brandywine (my first SUCCESSFUL attempt to grow them), 28 Large Cherry Tomatoes, 5 Zucchini Squash, and 13 Cucumbers.



June 22, 2010 Harvest (Picture 2 of 2): 6 Gypsy Peppers, 11 Tam Jalapeno Peppers, 18 Sweet Banana Peppers, 3 Hot Jalapeno Peppers, 2 Pimento Peppers, 2 Carmen Peppers, 3 Cubanelle Peppers (these seem to be a hybrid of purple bell peppers and Cubanelle), 7 Anaheim Chile Peppers, and 13 Cayenne Peppers.

Todays harvest: cucumbers, tomatoes, a variety of peppers, sweet and hot and some Japanese eggplant.....

Very nice...I have some eggplants growing, but nothing like yours...

They are the Japanese variety. They are supposed to be picked at about 4 inches long. Gonna grill some tonight and see how they taste.