Growing up

Last night, the katydid molted into a young lady. Congratulations Katy! You can see the beginning of her ovipositor- it's the small projection off the tip of her abdomen that curls up just a bit. The eggs come out of this structure. Only females have it. In fact, bee's stingers are modified ovipositors. So if you got stung by a bee, you know it was a girl. And as long as we're blaming girls, only female mosquitoes bite (the ovipositor is not relevant here). It's their "blood meal" before they lay eggs.

Girls are just trouble.

Here is a picture of the cucumber plants just 10 hours after their first emergence. I was so impressed by their ambitious growth.

Here are the cucumber plants today. Not bad. I spread them out and I think that this had a negative effect on them. Maybe their roots weren't developed enough. But they've been a little limp and have shown slow growth since the move.

I planted numerous seeds- cucumbers, jalepenos, 3 different herbs, beans, and tomatoes. But only the cucumbers, tomatoes and one of the herbs sprouted (and the herbs are pretty small- no new leaves yet, just the cotyledon leaves). I am pretty sure that I rotted the other seeds by watering them too much before they sprouted. I've replanted, but I haven't seen anything yet. I'm leaving for Seattle on Tuesday, so I hope they sprout before then. 

Here's the tomatoes. All too close together, of course, but I'm reluctant to spread them out yet. I'll have plenty of gardening to do once we get back.