tomatoes – New England's Narrow Road

turd bug on tomato leaf — Little “turd bug” on my tomatoes.

As I was checking on my newly planted tomato plants the other day, I noticed this black spot on a leaf. I thought at first it was just a bird turd because that is what it looked like. The bluejays and chickadees like to perch on the wire cages that are around the tomatoes and I almost didn’t look further, but then I saw another one – and it looked exactly the same.

Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a bug! I picked it up and it had a hard shell that split in half to reveal wings and it flew away. Like a ladybug, but not as cute. I noticed quite a few of them and began to pick them off the leaves because I noticed that they were chewing holes. I call it a turd bug because I have no idea what it is, but it looks like bird poop.

I’ve never encountered this bug before. If you know what it is, please leave me a message.

Update: They are now on my potato plants too.
12-11-12 …. Also…. Thank you to the reader who said they may be the Clavate Tortoise beetle or Plagiometiona clavata. I think so…!!! Many thanks.

See more photos on my Hydrangeas Blue blog where I wrote again about this bug when it showed up again.

little tomato plants — Ready to plant tomatoes

I stopped at Tenney Farm the other day and picked up some tomato plants. I knew that planting time would be upon me soon and I didn’t want to be without anything to add to the garden.
I bought Early Girl, Big Boy and Cherry, Grape and some sort of Roma.
The trouble I am having this year is that everything has to be done at once. Digging the gardens is the most time consuming thing and I had to have loam / garden dirt delivered to add to the vegetable garden area. I’ve also been watching the sun to see where I get it the longest so the tomatoes could be planted there.
Last year I spent most of the end of summer removing the blackberry bushes that had taken over the back right where I wanted to plant my garden. That was a nasty job but at least that part was done. This spring I’ve spent digging, buying soil amendments and lugging dirt. I still don’t know if the dirt will be good enough to give me some tomatoes, but I am hoping.
It might be too early, but the weather for the week will be warm so I planted the tomatoes last Saturday and then finished up yesterday with basil and marigolds. I also built some mounds for my zucchini, summer squash and cukes. The peas were planted a while ago but haven’t grown much yet. I am out of room, but I might get to add some beans if I can find space – maybe along the side of the deck.
I’ve noticed that I have one big sunny spot out front. I might have to turn that area into my garden spot.