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).
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| Swallowtail Caterpillar on a Dill plant |
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| Flea Beetles and/or Aphids have been eating my eggplant seedlings. |
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| Best Boy & Beefsteak tomatoes are planted in pots with straw, compost, perlite and gravel. |
