A box full of lady bugs showed up on Wednesday evening, and I was pretty amazed to see them all crawling around quite alive. Well, mostly alive. A few timid souls didn't quite survive the trip, but the majority of the bunch were very active and ready to go.
I sprinkled them out on the plants that I've been picking aphids off of, with the majority going onto the untreated Lupine up in the bed by the driveway. This little guy was taking the tomato super highway to greener pastures. I felt a little sorry for him not having any spots. I wonder if the other lady bugs make fun of the little guy. Its almost the exact opposite problem of teens with pimples.
The lady bugs on the Lupine wasted little time in going to work on their veritable smörgåsbord of aphids. My hope is there will be lots of little lady bug eggs all over the lupine after this batch feasts on the little buggers. I'll be monitoring them closely over the next couple weeks to see what kind of dent they make in the aphid population.
I ordered Mustard seeds on a lark, and I'm happy I did because they seem to be the only green that the local animals don't like. The first crop has started to bolt, and I want them to do so. I'm hoping to collect enough seeds to plant even more mustard and eventually collect enough to make some homemade mustard.
The Tomato plants are looking really healthy, and are starting to put on more growth. Not all of them are doing super great, but they're definitely all growing. I'm hoping the lady bugs will keep the aphids on them in check, and keep them reaching for the sky.
Whenever I look at this picture of the chipmunk all I can think of is "The Evil Chipmunk Overlord is displeased with your performance!" Even when he looks evil he looks pretty darn cute. Unfortunately we have a feeling the little overlord took a wrong turn when he leaped out of the bucket yesterday morning. At first we though he just ran off, but then Michelle found a hole in the screen of our bedroom window. It is suspiciously punched outward, and has molding crumbs chewed up on the inside.
The additional find of a little green poop (suspiciously green I might add) in the hallway lent further credence to the theory that he ran into the house through the open door to the garage. After wandering about the place he found the one open window and chewed his way to freedom. Now I might add that it is a one story drop straight down to a blacktop sidewalk with no trees or bushes around to jump to. Since I didn't find a squished chipmunk back there I think he made it out ok. I like to think he ninja wall walked across the side of the house to the nearby sun porch roof. Though I suppose we'll never know for sure.
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