The Morning After

I thought it might be interesting to go out the morning after my “Evening Observations” post to see what I missed last night. Turns out, there were a few things, particularly this critter lounging on my red cabbage. That notch of missing leaf just beside it’s head was in its mouth.

Imported Cabbage Worm Larva on Red Cabbage

I call a lot of caterpillars cabbage worm, and I know I’m not accurate all the time. This one appears to be. They are fuzzy, green with a yellow stripe, and this one was about 1 1/4 inches long. When threatened, they curl up in a ball, like a Roly-Poly. Caterpillars are one long intestine, and they eat and defecate constantly in their short life before metamorphosis. As I see cabbage moths in my yard all the time, I know to watch out for these. They’ll eat anything.

Imported Cabbage Worm Larva Coiled on a Stick

This cabbage grew back from a stalk that I left in the ground in June, after I harvested my last one. Something’s been eating on it, maybe more of these, and nibbled off the head, so I’m probably going to pull it out and start over with cabbage when it gets cooler. As I went in for a closer look to see if there were more caterpillars, I came face to face with a pile of its feces. Like I said, one big pooping machine.

Imported Cabbage Worm Larva Frass

Next, I moved on to my watermelon patch. I’ve cut out so many drying up vines, that I’m starting to lose hope. There are several blooms still and a few little babies. If I can just get the watering right, maybe there will be time for these to develop.

Baby Watermelon Sprout with Bloom

I’ve got five of these almost this size. This is the biggest. As I am the world’s worst at discerning when a melon is ripe (I always defer to the produce person at the market, and they are not always right, either), I have no idea whether I should cut it now. Clearly, they are never going to get as big as they were supposed to get.

Baby Watermelon on Vine

I’ve got quite a bit of squash action, still. Here are blooms on my zucchini.

Green Zucchini Blooms

And a half dozen zucchinis ready to harvest.

Green Zucchini Growing

And there is life left in the patty pan squash on the parkway with new blooms and leaves.

Patty Pan Squash with Bloom

And the little purple pepper plant is finally starting to produce. There are three little black ones and one red one.

Purple Bell Pepper, Red Stage

I would happily spend the day in the garden, but my next episode,”Growing Tomatoes,” would never get finished. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! – Kaye

Tags: cabbage pests, cabbage worm, caterpillars, compost, curbside gardening, do-it-yourself, farming on small scale, garden pests, gardening, gardening web series, green your world, growing your own vegetables, Kaye Kittrell, Kaye Kittrell Late Bloomer, Late Bloomer, organic, Permaculture, Photography, Plant photography, urban gardening, web series

Category: Critters, Vegetables