Weeds....Ack!

I went to my garden today to continue my war against the weeds. Pulling them out was pretty easy, the ground is soft from the recent rain, phew, it would have been a nightmare otherwise.  I was chased home by more rain, so did not get to finish.  Guess I'm going again tomorrow, but glad of it, as the humidity has gone down considerably. 



Black Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar

copyright SHD



While weeding, I discovered something nice.  Among my fennel was the caterpillar of a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.  If you recall my article on Fennel, the Black Swallowtail lives and feeds exclusively on fennel, laying its eggs on the plant, where it's cute yellow, black and green striped caterpillar hatches, grows, pupates, and transforms into a butterfly. 

I hate high humidity

The article reads:  All 50 States See Record Highs in July  "No state in the union was safe from July's blistering heat wave, according to data from the U.S. National Climatic Data Center.  The horrible July heat wave, lasting weeks in some cities, the entire month in others, affected nearly 200 million people in the United States at some point."

That's my official excuse for not getting to the garden for almost three weeks.  I don't feel so guilty any more, it was horrible here in Philly.  The streets were nearly deserted, something I usually only see during a winter blizzard.  That heat and humidity can really sap your energy.

So, now the weeds have taken a strong hold of the garden, although my plants are still doing well, they're beginning to become hidden among the tall grassy weeds.  Heavy sigh.  And its still record hot here, even though the humidity has gone down a little bit.  I have tons of work at the garden that I simply cannot catch up on by going there in the late afternoons. 

Ack.  I hate the humidty even more than I hate winter freezes.