Dedication and Purpose

This blog is dedicated to Doreen Eaton. She has been my friend, inspiration and mentor. She is an English gardener and her comment when she first laid eyes on my property was, "It's nice but it's so... GREEN." Many of the nicer parts of my yard are designed or inspired by her. She has chosen some of the more interesting plants.

My goal as I work in my garden is not only to enjoy being outdoors and relax and breathe fresh air, but also to create a space that is useful as a playspace for my children, a habitat for local wildlife, and a visual feast to behold. I hope someday to also have a productive vegetable garden and fruit orchard.

Friday, July 3, 2015

A Pest in the Kitchen

I always try to figure out what a bug is before I decide if it is going to get squashed or fed to something or gently put outside to carry on with its life.

 This evening I found something that looked like a slightly elongated yellow lady bug with very long antennae hanging out on my kitchen faucet.

 A little searching around Google found the positive identification of this little critter:
The Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata)

According to the farming people, this guy is a pest with no redeeming qualities other than to be used as spider food.  Fortunately, I don't have a vegetable garden this year, so I'm not *too* worried about an infestation, though for the sake of the neighbors, I can't really let him go.

 I had just about decided to feed him to one of the many spiders in our house when he became threatened by my proximity and persistent paparazzi-like-photo-taking and he flew to the ceiling where I could not reach him.  

 He lives to munch again.

 www.extension.org
wikipedia.org
BugGuide.net



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