Garden Detective Work - Bugs Galore!

A hot and scorching day. 38 degree celsius. Some of the melons lay looking really scorched at mid-day. I had to give them extra amount of watering. Early morning started with lots o dew and I selectively watered only the bay and tomato (transplanted from rooted sucker, see Tomatoes, Melons, Potatoes and Capsicum dated 15 Jan 09), since they were just planted and probably needed more moisture than the others. When evening came, the heat was gone and a cool change arrived with periodical breezes. It was a lovely evening so I decided to spend some time out doing closer examination of my garden babies. Good decision! I did not know that I could have found so many things out there. Some of the sunflower leaves look tattered like that. Wonder what caused this. A few leaves of my tomato bush look like that. Not necessarily caused by pests but I have to do further research on this.

  Ants going up and down the stems of the sunflower.

This caterpillar above! I noticed two tiny laksa/vietnamese mint leaves wrapped up in a strange way. I remember that happened to my spearmint before. Unfoiling revealed a tiny caterpillar! Gosh! Organic gardening indeed requires meticulous examination on a regular basis. Get them before they destroy my garden!

I spied a praying mantis (garden friends) on the sunflower leaves for the first time! A good bug though I dont quite that that evil look and how predatory it is.

A grasshopper (pests) amongst my tomato bush! A good find before it ruins the leaves! I did not have the slightest idea how to catch it. I just moved some leaves away and grabbed it at lightning speed. Not bad at all, my action was faster than that critter. A tiny spider has somehow found its way to my little tomato plant. Only two leaves but it has decided to build its home there. I thought I will just leave it there since it can probably take care of some pests for me.

Just to record, I have caught two other brown caterpillars recently - one on the sunflower and one on my tomato bush. It pays to be vigilant.