Nearly constantly au-naturel

You can never predict when it will be busy in the garden. Such was the case this morning. I can only assume that the tomato pinworms are under control since I only came across one today. On the other hand, I was shocked to my very core to find an aphid and caterpillar feeding frenzy going on right under my significantly proportioned nose. Just next to the tomato plant that the pinworms seem to find particularly appealing, I have (or had, as of this blogging) a very pretty little green of some sort. I'm not sure how it came to be in this spot or exactly what it is, maybe some kind of kale. It's one of those little surprises I mentioned yesterday. The most likely explanation is that a seed planted in this spot back who-knows-when didn't germinate at the time, but Biology decided that conditions were ripe this spring so up it sprouted.

This morning for the first time, I noticed a few holes in the leaves of the mystery green. Upon closer inspection, the underside of every leaf was covered in aphids and most leaves had at least a couple of caterpillars nonchalantly chewing away. At first, I thought that I would just use my tried and true methods for dealing with these two problems (chickens for the caterpillars, water hose for the aphids), but after seeing the magnitude of the infestation, I realized a more drastic solution was necessary. So, I uprooted the entire plant and threw it into the chicken coop. Patrick the Duck loves kale (or any green, for that matter), and aphids don't seem to bother him. The chickens love caterpillars. All in all, an elegant solution.

I don't mind the hookah-smoking caterpillars that lounge around all day on mushrooms, but I can't abide these.

A ULB greedily eating my Brussels sprout leaf

Fortunately, the mystery kale incident was easily resolved. Unfortunately, on a nearby Brussels sprout plant I have encountered yet another new pest. I had assumed that the holes I've been seeing on the leaves of my Brussels sprouts were from caterpillars. I did think it was odd, however, that caterpillars were seldom seen on any of the plants. As it turns out, some unidentified little bugs (ULB's) are the culprits. I only found a couple and they were easily crushed. Now that they've been caught in the act, they can be kept under control without too much trouble, hopefully. If anyone knows the identity of these voracious ULB's feel free to leave a comment or email me (that seems easier to me -and more fun- than trying to find out via Google).

And finally, we have one last bit of pest control excitement for today. Our guest photojournalist, Dr. Travis B. White, happened to be outside as I wandered purposefully from plant to plant seeking things to photograph and kill. The webworms have been a minor but constant irritant on my mountain laurel. Normally, I would post a picture of webworms since I'm discussing them, but, as you know, I find them inordinately nasty. I find myself inordinately photogenic so instead of showing a close-up of disgusting webworms, here is photo of me killing disgusting webworms taken from a respectable distance.

I always wear my webworm crushing gloves when killing webworms, but I rarely wear a shirt (ever). (Photo credit: Dr. Travis B. White)