What's grosser than potato bugs?

Potato bug larvae.  Extremely gross, but, on the upside, also very easy to remove from potato plants.  Can anyone guess how I spent my morning?

This is my bug collection from this morning's harvest.  I filled a tupperware container with soap and water, and dumped the bugs in as I went from bed to bed.  The potato plants, unsurprisingly, had the most potato bugs/potato bug larvae, but the eggplants were a target as well.  My poor swallow eggplant must be especially delicious to bugs, because it had the most bugs per plant that I saw.  While I was working, I was stung by a wasp, so nasty bugs must be sticking together in my garden.  I'm hoping that those "beneficial" insects that my flowers are supposedly going to attract start pitching in, because I really don't enjoy the bug harvesting process.

Here's an upclose shot of one of the potato bug larvae.  It doesn't fully capture the grossness, but hopefully you get the idea.

Because I don't enjoy bugs, I'm ending this post on a prettier note with pictures of all of the flowers that are blooming in my garden.  The snow peas, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants have all begun to flower.  So has the arugula, but that's not quite so exciting since that means the end of this batch of arugula.

Eggplant flower 7-7-11

Potato flower 7-7-11

Snow pea flowers 7-7-11



Tomato flowers 7-7-11



View of the garden from the back 7-7-11

View of the garden from the front 7-7-11