The vegetable garden is home to many different creatures, insects and mammals, welcome and not. Sometimes amphibians and reptiles make an appearance, as this tiny surprise shows. I recently noticed a lot of hopping movement underfoot and bent down to take a look, thinking it was probably small crickets or grasshoppers. It turned out to be many itty-bitty toadlets, American Toads beginning their life away from the pond where they were hatched into tadpoles. At such a small size, the journey from the pond to the garden must seem quite daunting.
Another surprise guest was this sweet little Garter Snake who was sheltering under the eggplants which were covered with a row cover. The weather had been cool for a few days, so I covered the plants; when I uncovered them, there was this little guy. Garter snakes aren't aggressive; matter of fact he seemed interested in me, allowing me to take several photos and putting out his red tongue to smell me. He went wandering off, I suppose, since I haven't seen him again.
This very beautiful, humungous caterpillar is the most unwelcome of all insects in my garden. It is the dreaded Tobacco hornworm, often confused for the tomato hornworm; tobacco hornworms have a red horn, tomato hornworm's horns are black. Either one does tremendous damage on tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. If left unchecked they can eat an entire plant and leave only a skeleton of branches. This guy has to be the model for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
It ate a huge chunk of this tomato. The gardener has to be vigilant about many garden pests, but this one is at the top of the list. It's green protective coloring makes it hard to find, but luckily it has very noticeable droppings.
I saw this richly colored Eastern newt in the lawn in front of the house, its color almost startling; this vivid orange lasts only during the juvenile phase. It was small, 2 to 3 inches long, and was not happy about being photographed. I was sorry to frighten it, but I can never resist trying to capture images of the incredible variety of life in the small world around my home.
Your pictures of the local wildlife always make me homesick for NY..I refused to cut the lawn at home when I knew the tiny toads were swarming.
ReplyDeleteDeb, I didn't swim in my pond when the thousands of tadpoles were growing there. I'm sure you have some of your own interesting wildlife down there.
DeleteWhat fun finding all of these garden visitors. I bet that snake will take care of many of those toads. :/
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I hope the snake doesn't take card of too many of those little toads; I really like them.
DeleteWe got tobacco hornworms this year, finally! What a cool, huge caterpillar that is. I found the half-eaten green tomatoes first. The celadon green is stunning.
ReplyDeleteThey are gorgeous, aren't they, Susan? but so darned destructive and so upsetting to have to kill such large creatures. I even found two on my potato plants this morning; the droppings are the giveaway.
DeleteI found a tobacco hornworm this afternoon when I went out to water. I wouldn't have even noticed him except he reacted to the deer repellent spray. I removed him and put him down about 100 yards from the garden. I'd rather not kill them, but I also don't want to share the tomatoes with them... and now I wonder if the eaten leaves and tomatoes are the work of the hornworm instead of deer. Do you know if deer repellent spray will keep them away? Or is there another solution?
ReplyDeleteCarol, I've researched this hornworm problem and haven't found any solution except to hand pick them. And yes, if you see leaves eaten with stems remaining, it's the hornworm and not deer.
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