Are your cucumber plants looking less than green? Are you seeing spots? Or spots and stripes? On your cucumber plants that is… Yeah, me too. My poor hardworking cucumber plants. Who would have thought such tiny critters could cause so much destruction?

Do you ever wonder where bees sleep? Well, in my garden, some are sleeping on a bright gold bed of petals – right inside my squash flowers!

Has all your spinach long since bolted? Too hot to get new seedlings going? Hate the rising grocery store prices and constant E. coli scares? Yeah, me too. How about a free spinach alternative that you may already have growing in your backyard or garden? Sounds good to me…

Come on - tell me this groovy looking critter doesn’t look like it’s right out of the 60’s or 70’s dance scene? I mean, look at those leg fringes! And the best part? It’s actually called a dance fly!

Please welcome guest author: David Clark!

Ok, come on – tell me that it doesn’t look like a bird is to blame? Quite honestly, when originally passing by, I did think it was from one of the bajillion birds around my house. Until I noticed a bunch more on the plant, often rather oddly placed, and took a closer look.

My butterflies hatched! Well, technically that’s not true. My butterflies emerged from their chrysalises! In the insect world this is called eclosure. Caterpillars hatch from eggs, and butterflies enclose from chrysalises. And my butterflies have eclosed!

Did you know picking berries is a learned skill? I often take this for granted since I’ve grown up around gardens, nature, and berry plants, but if my dog can learn how to pick raspberries without me consciously teaching her, anybody can! So let’s find some free berries!

Too many alliterations? Yes, most likely – sometimes I’m afraid I get carried away. Diabolical bees though? No way! That can’t be true… We love bees! Well, yes. Of course we love bees – particularly the native species that we depend on for food and keeping the ecosystem healthy. However. Some bees, like those in the group Dialictus, are ridiculously difficult to identify. Diabolically difficult to identify many might even say…

Height: About 3 inches.