Need Some Insect Identification Help

Well, I can't figure out what is eating my peas. I can see the little buggers, but they are so small that I don't think they show up in the picture. What I suspect is eating my peas are tiny wormy-looking yellow/orangish things that can be easily blown off of the pea. The reason I suspect these little turds is because once I noticed something was wrong and began to inspect further, I saw that these little things were in the discolored areas on the peas (usually 2-3 of them in each area). I guess they could just be reaping the benefits of an already open sore on the pea, but I have a feeling they are to blame. You can see one a bit in the first big picture in the very bottom beneath the second pea pod.

The peas are affected and so are the leaves. One plant is even beginning to turn yellowish-brown and crust up. I picked a ton of peas, trying to get all that I can out of the plants before they go down. I have gotten a lot off of the plants. Maybe it is just their time to go? I don't know...it seems too early. Last year, I saved some of the seeds and planted those this year. Could that have been the problem? I was thinking of planting more of this variety elsewhere. Is that a bad idea?

Flowers and Fruiting

The beans and peas are beginning to sprout tiny little pods.

Our tomatoes in the garden are about to flower (the patio tomato and one that is in the back yard in a place of honor have already flowered and have tomatoes on them...one of them is orange now!), and the potatoes are flowering along with the raspberries.

It looks as if the peppers are just about to flower. I think that is what is going on in the middle of their leaves. It would be awesome to eat peppers before September!

Last year, things seemed to take forever!

I'm having a tough time with the warm weather fruits. The cantaloupe that I directly seeded just germinated, but the watermelons have not. I started some of both indoors, but every time I try putting them out, they seem to shrivel up into oblivion (I think it is because of our strong winds... and because they hate me). The Three Sisters Garden is doing really well. I planted some of the beans because the corn was tall enough, and that just germinated today. The squash and cucumber are doing well, but we will see what happens throughout the summer.

My lettuce seems to be enjoyed by fruit flies, but they can't be what's eating them, right? I have checked and checked for aphids but haven't seen any, unless these things I think are fruit flies are aphids?

I still have a lot of started plants that I don't know what to do with. I have a ton of started peppers, some tomatoes, watermelon that look really great that I'm afraid to put out into the wind, cantaloupe, and a squash. I don't really have room for them, but I hate killing things or throwing them out. I'll see if I can find spots for them.

Updating Pictures and Planting New Stuff

Today was my first official day of Summer Vacation, and I think I used it well. We still had some space in Garden #2 because Darren expanded it. We didn't know what to put in it, but I finally sat down, drew a map of the garden, and filled it in.

I planted:

• cilantro
• bush beans
• chives
• dill
• hot peppers
• lettuce
• cantaloupe
• watermelon
• onions
• carrots
• parsley
• basil

It may be too late for some of these to be planted (I planted all seeds), but I thought I would give them a try. Now for some comparison pictures:

Pictures are from (left to right) April 3rd, April 25th, and May 28th.

(Below) Head and leaf lettuce (left) April 29th (right) May 28th

Carrots (left) April 29th and (right) May 28th

Burpee lettuce

(Above) April 29th and (below) May 28th

Berries. The one in the front on the right hand side is surprisingly coming to life!

April 29th (above) and May 28th (below)

Peas

(Above) April 29 (Below) May 28

Potatoes and Michin

Potatoes (from top to bottom) April 3rd, April 29th, May 16th, May 28th

Sunburned Pogue

Today and yesterday were really warm, and today I spent a lot of time transplanting and transpotting, so I'm left with a bit of a sunburn. Things are progressing in the gardens. Darren finished expanding the second garden 2 weekends ago, and last weekend we spread all the new soil inside. The walking areas for the expanded part are much more comfortable to squat (or sit) in. We made them a lot wider than the measly 1 foot sections in the first part of the garden, in anticipation for a fat summer. The thing about being pregnant that surprises me the most is how difficult it is to bend, squat, maneuver, etc. around this big belly.

While Darren was finishing off the garden, I made the Three Sisters garden. Hilling up the soil was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I have high hopes for this garden. I planted the corn and squash, but while looking at how many hills of squash we had (4 hills with 3 seeds planted per hill), I started to get nervous about doing the other 5 hills in squash. Darren isn't a big fan, so what the heck am I supposed to do with all that squash? I ended up planting cucumbers in the other 5 hills. They aren't supposed to be a part of the Three Sisters garden, but oh well. The corn has germinated today, and a couple of squash have also germinated.

ON the 20th, I transplanted the first two tomatoes out in the garden to see if it is too soon. We have had high winds (gusts of 34-60 mph down here in Fountain) for the past two days, and I worry about the wind damaging the plants. But, those two tomatoes look awesome, so I transplanted 2 more Better Boys and also 2 Baby Girls. I also transplanted 2 of my 20 cent watermelons today. We'll see how those two do. On the 20th, we transplanted the big Baby Girl (the one with tomatoes already on it) to the area back by the fence. It doesn't quite get full sun, but it get some hot sun between 10-1 and again after 5. I was afraid it would go into shock after being transplanted and drop all of the tomatoes, but it seems to be doing alright.

Almost all of the plants are out of the future nursery (which is where I was keeping them until I was able to take them outside). I still have a few, and we don't want to get a crib until we get all of the plants out. My last day of school for students is Tuesday, so that means I will have LOTS of time in the near future to baby the garden.

First Tomatoes

Update: We saw our first tomato on May 4th. I planted this tomato seed on February 4th.

Happy May Day

I wanted to put up some pictures of the weekly progress. This week, the potatoes came up, we bought a bunch of clay pots to transplant some seedlings, and we planted a blue potato (which I'm fascinated by for some reason). We also made some progress on the addition to the garden. Oh, yeah! The Baby Girl tomato that I planted on February 4th flowered!

Baby Girl cherry tomato flowering. I've been keeping it in the window, and what do you know...plants like the light! Hmmm.

Mixture of tomatoes and peppers in the window. The plants that sit directly on the sills seem to do better than the others. I wish I had more windows and certainly more south facing windows.

The carrots have that fluffy little tuft now:)

All of our new pots and Michin guarding them furtively.

Potatoes have come up. I've never done potatoes before, nor do I think I have ever eaten garden-fresh ones, so I'm intrigued to watch this experiment.

(Left) peppers one month ago. (Below) peppers today. Yea for their awesomeness!

Ahead of the Game

Last year, we didn't see any blossoms on the tomato plants until July 3rd. We have blossoms on one of the Baby Girl Cherry Tomato plants that I planted on February 4th already! Why were things so small and sackless last year? I'm transpotting plants this year, and I didn't do that last year. I also started plants earlier. Last year I began seeds indoors at the end of March. This year I did my first planting Feb. 4-6 then every Friday from then on. I guess that is a two month head start, but still, the Lowe's tomato plant that we picked up is already blossoming, PLUS it looks way awesomer than our tomatoes (yes, I know awesomer isn't a word). It will be interesting to see when things produce this year, and I'm really antsy to see it happening!