I'M BACK!

I'm back from the lovely NC where I had a terrific time with friends and family. The weather there was a tad hot, but after living in super HOT Arizona, I was fine with it and I even welcomed the humidity. When I first moved to the East Coast, I really hated humidity and it took me many years to appreciate its positives. I hate humidity for messing up my hair when I try to keep it straight, but I love it for keeping my skin soft and smooth. Arizona dryness gives me lots of wrinkles and I felt like I shed off a few years in my face when I went home. Humidity also makes it easier to breathe. But anyway....on to the good stuff!

Yes, the garden is still alive. However, since I have been gone it has become a jungle out there. It will take me a long time to blog about it- and probably many posts, because there is so much to say. While I compile everything, first I will spend tonight writing about something that I wasn't expecting when I came to North Carolina this summer. That is. . . .

THIS.

It looks creepy right? It's a cicada. BUT not just any cicada. Of course I'm used to the cicadas that pop out every summer and leave their shells on tree branches, but those are different. They are common and typical. However this particular cicada has been waiting underground for 13 years before emerging.

Here's the story: I went home and when I got out of the car I heard this odd, extremely loud sound. Honestly it sounded like a UFO was about to land. The sound was high pitched and didn't sound at all like cicadas. I asked my dad what it was and he told me that it is the sound of the 13 year cicadas and I was completely astonished. Can you believe that insects will live underground for 13 whopping years only to finally emerge, mate and die? All within a few days and weeks? It's wild to think that their entire existence revolves around them mating and dying and then waiting another 13 years. From what I've heard, there are 17 year cicadas as well. That's so crazy!! My dad told me that earlier the sound was much louder- even deafening and at first they had no idea what it was. (My family has only lived in NC since 1999- so we narrowly missed the last time they were there which was in 1998.)

I just couldn't get over it. As I walked around outside there were holes everywhere in the ground where the cicadas had popped out (my moms friend said she was walking her dog when she happened to see a patch of ground where the cicadas were practically pouring out of!), there were many dead ones lying on the ground, others flying weakly away from me as I walked about. On the trees were many empty shells they had shed, still stuck in place on leaves and twigs.

Although I was only in NC for a week and a half, already towards the end of my trip the sound they were filling the air with had cut in half and it wasn't as loud. Most of them had died and in another week or so they will probably be all gone. It will be another long 13 years.

Now for the pictures:

An empty shell.

Lots of empty shells.

Holes in the ground where the Cicadas have emerged.

Okay now brace yourself, because you might find these pictures gross and/or disturbing. But I went to the backyard where I saw a bunch of grubs feasting on a plant. A closer look reveal that they are probably the cicada larvae that have hatched already. I guess they need to eat a lot before they go into the ground!

GROSSS! haha!

Here are some youtube videos where you can hear the sound they make:

Enemies of the Garden

On the whole, my garden has stayed relatively clear of pests. Nothing seems to bother my tomatoes save it for a few aphids here and there- but they don't seem to mind them much. I had a few things chewing on my eggplants, but they are now gone. The peppers are okay as well.

I've started to make a regular habit of looking on the undersides of my zucchini leaves, because twice I have found 2 large fat green caterpillars. When I picked them off, they seemed rather oblivious to their new surroundings in my hand and commenced with trying to eat my hand. They had really strong little jaws and it kind of hurt! They didn't even bother trying to crawl away, they just sat there and tried to eat. Voracious little critters! I thought about keeping them and see if they make any kind of cocoon, but decided that would be kind of strange and gross to keep a jar with a cocoon in it in my room. Plus, what if they didn't even turn out to be a pretty insect? That would be a let down. So instead I decided to dispose of them by the most efficient way possible...yes, to stomp on them. It was really gross! It was also a huge waste of caterpillars. If I'm at my parents house and find a caterpillar, I can simply feed it to their chickens! So it's times like these where I could really use a chicken. Anyway, my zucchinis have too many leaves now to be affected much by their munchings.

As I have discussed before, something evil has been eating my sunflowers and I still haven't found out what the culprit truly is. I've dusted the leaves with Sevin poison, which has sort of stopped it, but not entirely. The mystery bug still eats small holes here and there. I've looked at the undersides of the leaves, gone out with a flashlight and I still can't find the culprit. Then, the other day I was looking at my eggplants, when I found a HUGE grasshopper. Could THIS be the enemy? I just about died when I saw it, it was so scary! Okay I'm not really scared by insects, but because it was so large it really took me aback in horror. I grabbed it with some of my netting and here is the lineup:

Yes, that is indeed a solid 3 inch long grasshopper! It has a huge mouth and good spiny thorny legs for crawling. DID she do it? She acted a little dazed, could it be from poison? After looking on the internet, I believe it is a Grey Bird Grasshopper. According to one website here are the facts:

Natural RangeThe Grey Bird Grasshopper lives in southern North America. This includes Mexico and southwest America from California to Texas. They also live in Central America.
Interesting Facts
The Grey Bird Grasshopper lives in many different habitats. These include deserts, woodlands, and lower elevation mountainous areas. It is a very large grasshopper. It can reach lengths from 4 centimeters to 7 centimeters. It has the ability to fly over the ocean 300 miles. It is usually brown with grey spots. It is considered a pest on many crop plants.

 

So since I didn't actually catch it in the act, I don't know for certain that it's the culprit. However, I still disposed of it. I had no idea that some insect out there was so crazy about sunflower leaves.

One of my small sunflowers bloomed and I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy it. It looks kind of like a daisy, it is so small:

Pardon the blurry pic!

Another sunflower has blossomed as well:

Their leaves have been kind of left alone...maybe because they are so small and the bugs head for the tallest one on the garden? Who knows why, it remains a mystery!