I just realized that it’s 9/11 when I typed that date. Hmmm. I was in grad school at Arizona State University on 9/11. My husband was active duty Air Force, but also a full time grad student on the military’s dime, for he was slotted to return to his Alma mater the Air Force Academy and teach political science to the cadets. We were on Arizona time and still asleep when the East Coast was rocked by the airplane attacks. My father in law called and woke us up. What an emotional day that was. And how things have changed for us now. Instead of living a military life in the middle of a city, I’m photographing horn worms in my children’s hands. I’ll never forget 9/11, but I sure am glad to be living out here in the middle of no where.
Okay…enough reflecting. Time for my garden update!
So, this is my garden. About this time of year, my garden just really starts going downhill. Mostly because I quit weeding…
But also because of some of the critters that seem to come out around this time of year, every year.
Have you seen these nasty creatures? I have this love/hate relationship with them. They are disgusting, yes, but they are also kind of cool to look at. My children L.O.V.E. them. They gladly pick them off my plants if I find them. And they aren’t that hard to find.
Because they are pretty darn destructive. I KNOW when they’ve appeared because they leaves start disappearing off my tomato plants. It’s hard to miss!
And then, because they are fleeeeping ginormous creatures, they leave behind massive poops!! Seriously. Can you believe the size of that caterpillar poop?? Ugh. 
But nonetheless, my kids love them. And it cracks me up to watch them play with these nasty things. My 2 year old was enthralled!
And I’m glad they’ll grab them because I most certainly. will. not. touch. them. Not with a 10 foot pole.
As nasty as they are, they’re not that hard to get rid of if you have kids. or a pair of scissors. Or a hoe. {I’ve been known to hoe them to death from a safe distance and cut them off my leaves too. Oh yes. I can be quite ruthless when it comes to protecting my plants!} And if you’ve got these creatures eating your tomato plants and you want to save your tomatoes, you must get rid of them or they will just munch your entire plant and kill it.
I’ve never lost an entire tomato plant to them, though, until I’m ready to be done with tomatoes. And then they can have them!
But my garden still continues to produce, despite lack of weeding and horn worms. I’m still picking green beans, tons of tomatoes, kohlrabi, peppers, kale, broccoli, and digging purple potatoes! Apples are ripe and grapes are ready to pick in my world too.
And that’s what’s going on in my garden. What do you think about the tomato horn worm? And where were you on 9/11??
Linking up: Tuesday Garden Party; Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; Eat Make Grow Thursday; Simple Lives Thursday;
About Michelle
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
My dad was telling me he remembers his dad picking those worms off tomato plants they had when he was young. He said my grandpa would just pick them up and throw on the ground. Yuck! I have noticed some of the leaves on my plants are turning yellowish do you know what would cause this?
I was in 9th grade World History class when I heard about the towers. Another teacher came and told our teacher then an announcement was made on the PA system. It was scary since my uncle and his family live in Falls Church, VA after we heard the pentagon was hit and he works in DC.
I have a squirrel problem!!
I was teaching. We had just finished morning meeting when a fellow teacher walked in with the news. I didn’t believe her. By the time I helped get the students dismissed (I had no kids to pick up) the streets were empty. I taught South of Baltimore.
We live in Gulf Coast Texas and are super fortunate to get two good solid growing seasons. So we tore out our spring garden and planted our fall garden about a month ago. So currently we have happy sprouts all around including EIGHT volunteer cucumbers from last season.
Had a little trouble with horn worms in the spring garden. They are SO gross. I won’t touch them either. I pull them off the plant by squeezing them between my little hand shovel and a stick and then I squish them in half. Which is my least favorite part because their gooey green insides are even more gross than their ugly green outsides.
On 9/11, I was a junior in high school and homeschooling. I was making the 45 minute drive home that morning after dropping my mother off at the the airport to fly to L.A. for a business trip when I heard the news about the first plane on the radio. When I got home my younger brother was watching the news on TV when we both saw the second plane hit.
Lucky you to have 8 volunteer cucumbers! My cucumbers were all killed by the cucumber beetles. Next year, I’m getting them in a lot earlier, hope. Ugh. The inside of the horn worms. Forgot about that!!
Those tomato hornworms are Humongous. I have seen them before, but never that big. Fortunately we don’t have them (that I know of) here where I am in Oregon. You still seem to be getting some nice tomatoes regardless. Mine are showng signs of pooping out. Have a great Fall.
Yael from Home Garden Diggers
Hi Yael, I’ve had a lot of nice tomatoes this year! I hope to get a few more, which is why I trying to rid my garden of horn worms…
Thanks for stopping by.
We just got our first horn worm of the season, in Sept! Must have been the drought. I love them but can’t let them stay, I’ve seen entire plants taken down in a day. My chickens seem to like them.
9/11, we had just moved into our new house where TV reception was poor and no satellite hookup yet. I had taken a couple of days off to move. My husband called up to say there was a plane crash that hit the towers, amazed but not alarmed at that point . . .until the second one. I watched on our fuzzy tv screen, giving updates to my co-workers via phone. My mom was flying that day and I couldn’t call her because we needed to select a long distance carrier (??) I thought it would just transfer with the number. I also will never forget the eerie silence of the skies in the days that followed.
The silence. I remember that too! It was quite bizarre. Thanks for your comment!
I have never seen hornworms on my plants but I agree that they are hideous? The problem in my garden is that the grasshoppers are thriving and eating the leaves on ALL my plants. I find them more disgusting than worms because they have a tendency to hop when you’re not expecting it and scare the living daylights out of me. Ish. So I’m trying to figure out how to keep them from chowing down on my brussel sprouts. Last year our brussels had holes right down to the middle of the sprouts (not sure what was eating them, though) so we weren’t able to save many. I’ve already tried diatomaceous earth and flour sprinkled on the plants but I still see a few. Any suggestions? I am NOT picking them off with my hands… ;-P
On 9/11, I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing and my Mom asking “Have you heard what happened?” Being unemployed at the time, I was glued to the TV the rest of the day in horrific amazement. It still seems surreal but I know it was an important time for our country to unite and remember who we are and what we stand for. I’m still in awe of the heroism shown that day and throughout the days that followed and the realization that there are so many people willing to give their lives to save others, even strangers. We are lucky to live in such a wonderful country.
Hi Heidi,
Is it possible that little green cabbage worms are eating your brussel sprouts? That’d be my guess. If that’s the case, dipple dust or BT should take care of them. I talked about them here: http://www.simplifylivelove.com/2012/06/garden-update-612-dealing-with-unwanted-garden-pests-organically.html Good luck!!
Just horned my way from the Eat, Make, Grow Blog Hop. When we lived in TN they totally destroyed multiple tomato plants. Like you I have eliminated many from a distance.
I was home on 9/11 when my husband called out from the bedroom that a plane just crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I was like what, no some sick persons idea of a sick joke. However I ran to the bedroom just as the second plane hit, my heart sank, and my stomach dropped.
I was living in Chicago at the time, and we lived pretty close to O’Hare so planes flew over the house all the time, out side you would have to stop talking until they passed. Then there was this eerie silence, the planes did not fly for a couple of days. Never forget it.