veggie garden is just so-so

It's hit and miss with our vegetable gardens this year.

Lonnie had the same problem as last summer, his tomato plant leaves turn yellow, then shrivel up and die. In spite of this he does have a lot of big tomatoes growing...but a few of those have gotten pecked open (by crows?) just as they start to get ripe.

Several weeks ago I had pulled up my zucchini plants and stuck a few chunks of a sprouted sweet potato in their place. Something keeps eating the leaves on those.

But it's not all bad news, I picked all of this yesterday morning. Lonnie's green peppers and jalapenos are really producing.  The jalapenos are the really HOT ones too! I've already got a bunch in the fridge, so I need to figure out what to do with them. 

Not garden related, but here is something that I am happy to see. I think this is a very newly hatched Monarch butterfly caterpillar.

It's on one of the Asclepias (milkweed) that I planted this year for these caterpillars to feed on.

The Monarch Butterfly population has greatly decreased over the past few years.  The only plant that the Monarch caterpillars will eat is milkweed, which is becoming more scarce as land is developed.

I am giving the milkweed plants a trial run, planted close to my butterfly bush in the flower bed.  If I get a lot of caterpillars this year, I might plant a larger milkweed patch back in the field. 

The Monarch life cycle is interesting to read about.  The amazing thing about them is that they fly thousands of miles to California, Florida and Mexico...and back, each year.

They only make the trip once though, because they die after returning here, mating and laying eggs.  It's so hard to imagine something as fragile looking as a butterfly making that long journey.