Well, my plans for hatching Carolina mantids for the garden was an epic fail. I was duped on ebay and sold Narrow Wing (
Tenodera angustipennis) mantis ootheca. Luckily I found a responsible home for those eggs, so those itty-bitty-teeny mantid babies won't suffer for the seller's mistake. Instead they will be pampered and cared for, just not by me. So if anyone is ever tempted to buy mantid eggs on Ebay - DON'T DO IT. Go to a reputable mantid breeder, and I recommend going to
Mantidforums.net for more info on that. Peeps over there are great and helped me correctly ID the ootheca I had been sold.
Due to a crazy work schedule I planted the tomatoes out a couple weeks late. After some heavy soil ammendments and removing roses and yuccas to make more room, I've got about 50 'maters in the ground, with about 6 of them in root pots.
I have about 10 tomato plants left over, and currently debating whether to keep them as spares or give them away.
I had a two-weekend sprint of gardening to play catch up. 60-80 hour work weeks for the past few months really throws a wrench in gardening plants. Oy!