As the Worm Turns

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.    Isaiah 51:8

Last week we picked the very last cucumber off the vine.  They had been producing since spring.  We have eaten a lot of cucumbers this year!  Production was off the charts, especially with the Marketmore variety.  But all good things come to an end.  I told Tricia that we'd have a brief time of no cucumbers, but...

Not to worry.  I had planted some Boston Pickling Cucumbers from some seed we saved in 2016.  They ALL germinated and were beginning to vine.  It was time.  I took them out to the garden, put a little composted chicken litter down in the holes I dug, and planted the cucumber plants.  I trained the vines to wrap around the trellis.  The cucumber plants were happy.  I walked inside thinking, "We'll have cucumbers for most of the year!"

There's an old saying about not counting your chickens before they hatch.  The very next day, I walked out to check on the cucumbers and this is what greeted me:

Some little green worms were wiping the edges of their mouths with handkerchiefs and then burping loudly after devouring every green leaf off of every cucumber plant!

I had transplanted spaghetti squash in the garden.  So far the worms have not discovered them.  These right here are butternut squash.  I think I'm going to keep them right here on the patio for a little while - or at least until I can pick up some Neem Oil.

The tomato plants I planted for the fall crop are looking healthy.  If the Good Lord's willing, we may have a fall crop of tomatoes, but then again, we may not.  Here is the first tray:

And here is the second.  If you look down to the very bottom of the photo, you'll see a six-pack with just dirt and no plants... yet:

Those are Round 2 of the fall cucumber crop.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.