This summer only one tomato hornworm was found eating leaf and fruit of a single cherry tomato plant. It did minimal damage to the plant and ate only a few tomatoes before it was finally spotted and eliminated. It was almost ready to burrow into the earth to pupate. I hated to kill it, but dread prospect of allowing the creature to multiply into a big problem.
As this pandemic and all the negative effects it's having on production and supply chains grow, thoughts of expanding the gardening effort here into a full-blown permaculture operation are beginning to take root in daily thought streams. This year's gardening effort happened without any use of insecticides or herbicides or other chemical agents. Just long-fallow earth, water and sunshine grew the small but adequate crop here this summer. No effort is going into a fall garden beyond starting another batch of tomato plants to grow in the greenhouse this fall and winter. How that will turn out is up in the air, but prospect for success are pretty decent. Until then, the tomato and okra continue producing a small crop each week to enjoy as fall settles in. Time to start planning next year's farming operation.
Comments