Flea Beetles and a Swallowtail Caterpillar

In the garden this week, I came across two types of bad insects. One is the swallowtail caterpillar that will one day become a butterfly so I left him alone to eat this dill plant. The other is a horde of black flea beetles that poked a bunch of holes in all of my eggplants (five). I'm not really sure what to do at this point; I've used diatomaceous earth & neem oil spray. Maybe the eggplants are way too damaged. I tried plucking the bugs off today and am applying neem oil to the surrounding plants (sweet potato in particular). Hoping at least one of my eggplants survives.

Today I planted a Best Boy Tomato and a Beefsteak tomato in containers using layers of straw and gravel for drainage at the bottom. The soil is a mix of compost and perlite. I used the Neptune Fish Emulsion to feed my plants today (maybe the nasturtium leaves were turning yellow from not giving them enough nitrogen).

Swallowtail Caterpillar on a Dill plant

Flea Beetles and/or Aphids have been eating my eggplant seedlings.

Best Boy & Beefsteak tomatoes are planted in pots with straw, compost, perlite and gravel.

Broccoli Raab harvested

The high today was 87F. The Broccoli Raab is supposed to grow in cooler temperatures than what it has been recently. It seems like we skipped spring and went straight from winter to summer. The Broccoli Raab unfortunately sent up shoots when it was only 2 inches tall and very thin. Next time I'll have to plant it way earlier or grow it over winter. The top little rounded pieces are the shoots and you have to catch them before they flower (My Vegetable Gardener's Bible book says you have 24 hours after they send up shoots). I'll try planting them again in the fall (hoping for better results then).

Also in the picture you can see little holes in the leaves of the Broccoli Raab. These holes are appearing everywhere: my pepper plants, tomato leaves, collard greens and kohlrabi. I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth over the weekend over the trouble areas. I have heard from other gardeners that this could be slugs and things I read online seem to confirm it too.

I am looking forward to harvesting the Kholrabi soon so I can plant some more tomatoes.