A Bit of Misfortune. A Bit of Luck.

Upon another infestation of tomato horn worms, I dug the bushes up. It's such a shame, since I thought I'd gotten rid of them all. The bushes recovered and I even got to harvest a few more tomatoes. But I'd missed two applications of Neem treatment, and quick as that, they were back. Obviously Neem treatments need to be consistent during the growing season.

In other news, one of my birdhouses was severely damaged when it's post collapsed. It was a combination of termite damage (the post was untreated so this wasn't entirely unexpected, but sooner than I thought) and carpenter bees burrowing tunnels up and down the post. The thing nearly felt hollow when I picked it up and was filled with young bees buzzing inside. Couldn't get that curbside fast enough!!!

However, every difficulty presents an opportunity. In one of the areas where extra tomato bushes were planted, I created a new flowerbed. It's early yet and the plants still need to grow in, but I can't wait to see it next spring. Especially since it includes bare root Red Dragons which should be spectacular.

My Dad came for a visit, and built a birdhouse to replace the one I lost. Porch and all. We couldn't put the new birdhouse in the old location since we couldn't dig up the concrete without damaging existing plants, so we put it in an even better location. Can you say opportunity for a new flower bed!!!!!! Maybe in the springtime.