In previous years, I would be whipping my phone out of my pocket or running into the house to grab a camera when I see an insect in the garden. This year, not a chance. I have been so inundated with bad bugs in the garden this year that it made me wonder why I garden in first place.

First, I had a bad earwig infestation because last winter was too mild for my climate – not cold enough to kill off the earwig larvae laid by the mama earwigs last fall. Then I had multiple mice invade the garden. Okay, mice aren’t bugs but they are worse than bugs. Now, I have grasshoppers hiding in my pole bean plants, stripping the leaves off of the fall veggies, and chewing on my beans.

I don’t know which is worse – earwigs, mice, or grasshopper.

Looking at my photo archive, it was in early August of last year when I saw my first real butterfly (and not a cabbage moth) fluttering in my front garden. This year, it was last night – September 1. It was the same kind of butterfly but its wings looked battered. I wondered if it was on its last leg through the journey of life.

I heard on a podcast last week that the older generation of butterflies – the ones born in the spring – will die prior to autumn while the generation of butterflies born in the fall will be able to make it the following fall. Weird logic, I haven’t yet researched to find out if it’s true. Still, each time I see a butterfly in the garden, it makes me feel like I’m doing something right as butterflies are currently facing extinction.

Actually, I stand corrected. I did take pictures of insects roaming around the garden this year but only the good bugs like this bee working hard in the pollinator patch. This is the first year I have a pollinator patch and it’s helped tremendously particularly with my cucumbers. In the past, I have had to hand-pollinate my cucumbers but this year, despite having a few unpollinated cucumbers, I haven’t needed to pollinate a single cucumber in over two months.

I sowed 5 seeds for pickling cucumbers in early July. It’s given me over 10 good cucumbers so far without me needing to hand-pollinate. It’s amazing what having flowers and bees will do for a garden.

Inspired by SundayStills