Ziggy Sevin-dust

A few of the leaf-footed bug nymphs made a return appearance this morning. There weren't enough to justify dragging the vacuum cleaner out to the backyard though so I just smashed them with my fingers again. Then I came inside and made a sandwich for Trav's lunch without washing my hands (kidding). Aside from all that, I failed to find any other undesirable bugs in the garden on my morning inspection. Rest assured, I'm remaining vigilant.

The fact that I'm currently winning The Bug Wars is nice and all, but it leaves your humble blogger in a tight spot. You see, as someone whose gardening and writing talents are marginal (made up for in large part by my innate knack for drinking and dancing), I depend on the drama of battle reports from the front lines to make this blog even remotely engaging. Fortunately, I've been holding back in anticipation of the arrival of the inevitable day when nothing interesting happens in the garden.

A juvenile dragonfly considering his options.

This handsome fellow was hanging in a tomato plant yesterday. I think he must be a juvenile dragonfly because his exoskeleton looks a little soft, or maybe he's just out of shape. This is the first example of a good bug (from the perspective of a human gardener) that I've shown. In other words, it's not a bug that I gruesomely killed immediately after snapping its picture.

At the risk of falling into my condensending PhD/self-righteous liberal tone, this dragonfly actually brings up an important point in my gardening philosophy. You may have noticed that I've never mentioned pesticides as a method of bug destruction. Many may have already assumed that I'm some sort of a health nut consumed by a fear of developing cancer or some other disorder caused by exposure to carcinogens or various harmful chemicals. This is not the case. As a non-practicing biochemist, I have a (probably irrational) faith in the ability of the human body, particularly my human body, to generally handle whatever I throw at it. The main reason I avoid pesticides is that they are usually bug neurotoxins that tend to be pretty non-selective. They kill just about anything with 6+ legs, even useful potential garden inhabitants like dragonflies, praying mantises, ladybugs, and The Spiders from Mars.

Using pesticides significantly reduces the chance of finding beneficial predators like The Spiders from Mars in your garden.