So yesterday I finally figured out what was eating at my tomato leaves - tortoise beetles. There are no IPM (Integrated Pest Management) methods for dealing with this bug that usually attacks sweet potatoes but the stuff I found online said to not worry too much. I planned on picking them off and killing them and seeing how far that got me (I have so few plants).
Well, last night my point of view changed. Not only do the beetles not matter any more, I am not sure I even have tomato plants that will make it the next few days.
Here in MA on June 20 (yesterday) we got at least 1 inch hail for a good 20 minutes (as far as I could tell). Now my tomatoes and radishes and other plants look like someone stomped on them, literally!
Last night a fog arose from the subliminating hail all over the forest. We still had hail on the ground this morning. I wonder how many tons of ice fell from the sky yesterday.
I also wonder how the farmers in this region were affected by this storm, can’t be pretty! Jeez, especially the apple orchards in our area.
Right after the storm, still raining
By the pool we just got yesterday
Decimated tomato plant, notice leaves on deck, broken branches.
Beetle holes on the right, hail damage all over.
Hail doesn’t just fall, they come down REALLY hard like little missles.
My poor radishes
The offending precipitation, we have bags and bags of it. Might come in handy for homeschool experiments! Is this acid hail? Etc.
Before I woke up this morning my husband saw a deer in our backyard (they are rare in our yard for some reason) and took some shots.
4 comments for this entry ↓
1 Pam // Jun 21, 2006 at 9:47 am
Your poor tomatoes!!
You’re so lucky to be so close to nature, a deer in the back garden - how amazing!!
2 nika // Jun 21, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Darn freak storm.. I love living here.. we VERY rarely see these beautiful deer, its a treat when we do!
3 keiko // Jun 30, 2006 at 8:19 am
I hope they’ve recovered from the damage… and the deer! How beautiful! You must live in such a beautiful place, look forward to seeing more pictures
4 nika // Jun 30, 2006 at 9:17 am
keiko: They are coming back! I will take shots in a few days. The beans are going to town and the radishes are recovering. A lot of my lettuce seeds did not germinate - its been TOO wet by far.
It seems that this will be the year of the bunny for us. The bunnies are getting closer and closer to the deck during their foraging. I have my lettuce up on a table so if we have bunnies that can get up there they would be like the bunny in Monty Python’s Holy Grail and I would love to see that :-).
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