It’s squish duty. Definitely not for the faint of heart, those who tend to “freak” easily or even butterfly fans (technically I think we’re talking moths here, but when it comes to a sweet child’s heart of compassion, does the distinction matter?).
Nope. It’s a simple reality of gardening. And as you can see, these little fellas can do a lot of damage before tucking themselves out of sight.
Next, reveal them for all to see.
Successful gardening, anyway, where your plants survive and thrive as opposed to quiver and die. Caterpillars eat a lot — especially beautiful green leaves. Yes, they get full — eventually. But the question becomes: At what risk to our beautiful pole beans?
Major. So for us, caterpillar dispatch duty commenced!
Rounds of spotters took turns searching for intruders.
After cleaning our leaves of invaders, we headed off to weed. The kids are learning how to identify plants by their leaves. Crucial, as we don’t want to “weed” our parsley — we want to keep it!
Same goes for our baby spinach, swiss chard, etc.
One smart boy reminded me there’s another way to identify plants — their smell! (Thanks Eric O.!) He knew a basil when he smelled one. But don’t forget: you want to pinch the ends for bushier, more vigorous growth!
While touring our garden, we spotted some sweet baby peppers. Aren’t they cute?
The pumpkins are spreading out, too.
All in all, our plants are doing quite well. Better than some of mine at home, but we won’t go there. As for the students, it was another great week in the garden!
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