Another picture of the jumping worms

Maybe springtails? I don't know. I'm leaving them be for now since I haven't noticed any damage to the plants or an abundance of other insects. Again, they fold themselves in half and fling themselves open causing them to be propelled some distance. They seem to be living in the cocoa bean mulch. I just watered some zinnia's I have growing there and thats when I noticed them.

Jumping Worms?

I don't have a clue as to what these things are. They're about 3/8 of an inch long and they...jump. They fold themselves in half and then unfold quickly hurling themselves 6 to 12 inches. They are in a flower bed mulched with cocoa bean hulls and I didn't see them until I watered today.

Flea Beetles

These little bugs are just having a grand time munching on my eggplants. I only have 4 plants and while they are doing pretty good, every leaf has some damage. I have a feeling the Big-B-Gone is going to come out pretty soon!

Green Tomatoes

Here's how things are looking today. Just another week or two and these beauties will be on the plate.

TORNADO!

What an evening! Yesterday at 4:45 a tornado hit the town I live in. Fortunately it was a small one and nobody was injured. It looks like it went to the north of me. The street I live on had the least amount of damage in the town so I am thankful for that. Just 2 blocks away trees are snapped in half and some homes sustained damage. The trees on my street are fine. I was looking out the window during the storm waiting to see some debris and during that time the trees across the street were bent to near a 90 degree angle. I thought they were going over. Strangely, about the only damage at my house was the popcorn in my garden. It was flattened. I tried to trellis it up today so we'll see what happens there. Here are some pictures of my garden as well as some of the storm damage in the park behind my house.

The Tomatoes are taking off...

Here is how the tomatoes are looking just 8 days after the previous post. I am always amazed by how quickly plants grow. The weather conditions have changed a bit in the last week. The rain has stopped and it has turned HOT! The temperature has averaged 88 degrees (F) each day. Yesterday and today have both been well over 90 (f). The heat can really stress the plants if they are not ready for it. In addition to that, now is the time when the fruits can develop blossom end rot. The best way to help plants is to make sure they get plenty of water. 3 days ago I watered them heavily. I gave them 1.6 inches of water. I usually go with just the soaker hose to get the water to the roots. This time I went with a sprinkler since I wanted to water my other bed as well. The concern when using a sprinkler is that you leave water on the leaves and the high temperatures can cause fungus and diseases to grow. I watered in the morning and the leaves were dry in just an hour. No worries there.
These are some of the Big Rainbow. They are my favorites year in and year out due to the size and flavor. Right now they are just a bit bigger than a golf ball.

Here are a few Roma's. They should all ripen at about the same time. I'll turn them into sauce.

A close up of the Yellow Pear's. These are my wife's favorites. Open this up and look at the details.

Roses...

Growing like crazy!

Here is how things look 10 days later...Everything is about twice as big as it was 10 days ago. We've had at least 3 inches of rain since the last post and I think that has made all the difference. Here is a close up of some tomato flowers. All of the plants but the Grape have blooms. I'm not worried about that at all. That plant seems to be smaller and a bit behind all the others. I suspect it is due to the small size of the fruit; it is probably just a smaller plant.