Of Importance...Praying Mantis Egg Case

  The weather has been plenty warm enough to plant the spring/summer gardens.  Mark has been building several raised gardens to go along with our in-ground plots.  These are being filled with mulch from the downed leaves (winter storm) and compost from our bins started last year.  There will be no need to buy the chemical-laden stuff this year which makes me elated.  So far, squash, potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes have been planted with hopes of digging rows for green beans coming this weekend.   It is a lot of work but the rewards are great...fresh veggies without the high cost, getting a workout without a gym membership and lots of sunshine just to lift the spirits.  I guess all of the elation comes from memories of growing up on a small farm and the happy times as a kid.

 In one of the veggie plots there is a pear tree right smack in the middle.  When it was planted, I had no idea that my gardens were going to expand to this area.  The tree does not present a problem and actually provides a bit of cooling shade to some of the plants.  As I was looking at the pear blossoms, I noticed a bump on one of the small limbs.  Yep, there was a praying mantis egg case!  Yay!  I am excited!  I am in hopes that every last one of the eggs in this case would hatch to be a healthy critter.  That would mean that up to 200 praying mantids would roam the garden devouring all of the pests that intended to devour my plants!  After admiring the case for a few moments, I started to work again.

  On the west side of this same garden, there is a small persimmon tree that has seen better days.  In fact, I do believe it has met its demise so I started to remove it.  While examining the small tree for any life, I found yet another praying mantis egg case!  Whoa! That could mean up to 400 mantids!  My gardens would definitely benefit from this.  Needless to say, the persimmon tree (even though quite dead) will stay put for the time being.  That egg case is valuable if only to a gardener.

Nothing to Love

  I see a lot of strange things around here.  I am usually up before most other folks and the world seems all fresh and new but, every now and again, I find thing that sure don't thrill me.  Although I admit that I find all things about nature fascinating, that does not mean that I adore everything I come across in the garden, on the hillside or in the marshes.  A few things almost disgust me!  Take today, for instance, I stumbled across a most interesting formation of little white cups and thought "Here is a thing of beauty!"  It was beautiful.....at least to the eye.  Once I delved into the matter a bit more, my admiration soon turned to repulsion.

  My morning started with the usual picking of Boysenberries.  It is peaceful in the garden at daybreak and this morning was made even more enjoyable by the coolness that had set in after the severe thunderstorm last evening.  The same rains that cooled and cleaned the world, also, turned leaves that were normally cupped downward. One leaf in particular caught my attention. Now that the leave was upended, I could see the beautiful arrangement of tiny white cups.  Why!  The sparkling cups were in a heart arrangement!  I thought this even added to the appeal of the oddity!  I should have known better than to think shining white cups on the bottom of a leaf could ever mean anything other than trouble.

  I did know.  I knew exactly what these things were.  These pretty little egg-shaped cups were exactly that...eggs.  These were EMPTY eggs! Oh, no.  This meant trouble.  You see, even though the critter tried to disguise the fact that she was laying eggs by putting them in a heart shape, this "love nest" was not something I loved.  These were Shield Beetle eggs!  The same Shield Beetle that goes by the better known name of STINKBUG!  Yep, these were the eggs from one of those nasty, foul-smelling, juice-sucking critters that ruin tomatoes, berries, peaches and any number of other crops by sticking that proboscis of theirs in and sucking the thing dry!  They cause more blighted tomatoes than any other critter and I had missed the opportunity to squish dozens of the critters.  The female had done a great job hiding the eggs under the leaf until the storms flipped it over.  Still, it was too late for me to do anything about the possibility of mass destruction of my garden so I sat and admired the beauty from which all of those little beasts hatched!  Love nest....hmmph!  I have no love for stinkbugs!