Tilting windmills

My sworn enemy--
the squash bug!

I visited an organic demonstration farm this week and was not surprised, among all the lovely plants and pollinators, to find one of my garden enemies:  the squash bug!

Actually, I was somewhat surprised, given the overall quality of the garden, but the horticulturist explained that the garden had "gotten away from her" during the summer while other endeavors took precedence.

She's been steadily picking them, but, I think, they're winning.  Hopefully the plants can survive until the frost kills them both.

My arch nemesis:
the tomato  hornworm!
Actually, this looks more
like a tobacco hornworm.

On Monday, I was enjoying the balmy evening on the tractor, mowing the house lot, when I passed by my tomato patch.  From ten feet away, I spotted my arch nemesis!  Screeching to a halt and disengaging the PTO, I leapt (yes, leapt) from the tractor seat and sprinted, more like lumbered, to face the interloper who was merrily, yes, merrily munching on one of my prettiest Creole tomato plants.  (Nevermind that the plant is currently sans tomato; it's the principle of the thing!)

Thankfully, he did not even notice my approach so I tugged on him until he was separated from the nubbin on which he was noshing.  Then I tossed him in front of the mower where, after I jumped back on the tractor before his little legs could carry him back to the plant, he hopefully met his demise.

I experienced about 2.6 nanoseconds of remorse.  After all, the tomato hornworm must have a place in a healthy ecosystem, and I'm sure I fouled something up by removing him from it.  The hornworms do become lovely hawk or hummingbird moths so I should feel rotten about dispatching them as merrily as they munch on my tomatoes, but I do not.

I do not feel badly because, in truth, there are more of them than there are of me. Mother Nature has me outnumbered.  Now, I could use a pesticide, and have in the past, but that hardly seems sporting.  So, we continue our little war games, the bugs and I, until Mother Nature takes back the territory I have wrested from her.  She will win, in the end, but, until then, I continue my fight against Mother Nature and her minions.

Just call me Dona Quixote.

What's growing in your garden?

Nancy