Thriving tomatoes

The tomatoes and eggplants were transplanted last weekend into newspaper pots. These worked well last year for transplanting, as one just opens the bottom, and plops the whole thing into the garden. I did make an adjustment and used a bigger form to created the pots as I started these seeds earlier this year. So far they survived the move well and are growing another set of leaves.

Deck Garden

We turning this area back into a garden. Before it housed the bunny, which we could watch from the downstairs window. Something attacked the bunnies this winter, a coyote or dog perhaps. It tore the cage to to shreds! Anyway, it is becoming a garden once more.

The first thing to do is to haul out dirt/bunny poo so that the level is below the foundation and the water can drain away. This calls for replanting and dividing plants which are not at the correct level. In the back I have some ferns and plan to add hostas and corral bells as the deck shaded that part. The front faces south and in perfect for some low growing full sun plants. I need to start a list for the upcoming plant sales.

Woolly Bear Caterpillar

We had a visitor the the garden today, a Woolly Bear Caterpillar. It is fun to see these fuzzy strange creatures, they are much cuter than their adult Isabella Tiger Moth version.

The banded woolly bear eats grass and different types of plants. It overwinters in stacks of firewood or underneath bark or logs. Like most other caterpillars, it forms a chrysalis to begin pupation and remains there for three or four weeks. Some woolly bears go through metamorphosis in the summer, while others overwinter and pupate in the spring.

The adult that emerges from the cocoon of the banded woolly bear is the Isabella tiger moth which as a wingspan of up to 2 ½ inches. Their wings are typically yellow or brown, with black spots. Female Isabella tiger moths lay their eggs on several different types of plants, including sunflowers and corn. Isabella tiger moths have a unique trait that other insects do not have. They can emit a sound to ward off their predators.