The Aphids (one in the middle of the argulaleaf, on at the base)
Ladybug Larva (blurry on red leaf lettuce)!
Ladybug (on carrot greens)!
I don’t know what’s happened to the black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars — most of them seem to have disappeared, and I haven’t seen the telltale massive poops that let you know they’ve gone off to form chrysalises. Then again, I’ve been pretty in-and-out of the garden lately. . .
We have a new crazy amazing insect story, though! Back a few weeks ago I was noticing that our lettuces, carrot greens even, were infested with aphids (see the first pic — and sorry they’re lame, just with my iPhone) — really, the aphids were crawling everywhere. Then I saw this totally weird looking — almost scorpion-like — bug everywhere too . . . mostly on the lettuces and carrots, but also a couple on the eggplants. I assumed it was a bad guy but my experience from years ago when I thought the swallowtail butterfly caterpillars should be moved out of our garden taught me to wait to remove the bugs until I found out what they were. Thanks to rapid email back-and-forth among our more veteran gardeners, we figured it out.
Cut to . . . Spoiler Alert: see the middle pic above of the ladybug larva, a.k.a., crazy scorpion bug! I also noticed some funny, un-moving sort-of ladybug like creatures, that almost looked like ladybugs molting, shedding their skin. I’m going to try to get a pic of one of those tomorrow to add to the gallery — but guess what I just learned (thanks to google): those are ladybug pupae! Apparently, the ladybug seems to be asleep for a few days, but it’s not sleeping at all; it’s becoming an adult ladybug. When it emerges, it’s color may be a little off (I’m now wondering if a ladybug Frankie had found and showed me today that was almost yellow was a newly emerged ladybug). Over time, they turn to the characteristic red with black spots.
I’m also going to look for eggs tomorrow — apparently, ladybugs tend to lay them on the undersides of leaves. They look like tiny yellowish jelly beans, and are laid in groups of 10-15. If I find anything, I’ll take another lame pic with my iPhone!
Learn about the life cycle of the ladybug (better pics, too!)!
It is fascinating to let a garden take shape not just as a source for healthy veggies and herbs but also as an ecosystem, where an aphid infestation isn’t a disaster but a boon — because it leads to lots of ladybugs! Maybe not the best way to feed one’s family, but certainly a wonderful way to learn!
UPDATE: And here is a pic of a ladybug pupa from our garden — there are many, on the undersides of all kinds of leaves. This one was on a snap pea leaf:
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