We're not very into gardening, but we do have a vegetable garden in our backyard. Because we're not very into it, we don't usually have a great deal of success, but this year for some reason our garden did quite well, and since we have not had a frost yet it is still producing vegetables. They are growing very slowly lately, probably because there's less sunlight with the shorter days, and because it gets pretty chilly most nights, but we're still harvesting. I love seeing the bees visiting the flowers of the vegetable plants, because I know more produce will follow. This, of course, is one of the many reasons we should be grateful to insects–their work pollinating our food is why we are able to eat. But I have learned to be careful while harvesting; very often there are spiders lurking in the garden, and while I don't have any concerns that they will bite me, I don't want to grab one either. Crickets hang out among the cucamelons a lot, too, and I don't want to bring anything that noisy into the house by accident. And there's always the possibility of being stung:
I don't know why this sweat bee was dozing on a cucamelon, but when I did my harvest a few hours after my bug walk I did look to make sure it was not still there.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
A Hemiptera, my guess is some kind of plant bug or seed bug. I could not find it in my book.
Other Bugs:
I found this caterpillar in the same place and position as yesterday, and wondered if it was even alive, so I gave it a nudge. Yes, it is alive.
Large milkweed bugs feeding on milkweed seeds:
That's a long proboscis.
Arachnid Appreciation:
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Trash line spider
Goldenrod crab spider
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