Hornets or Cicada Killers

[SteveP]

I noticed about 7-10 days ago a few large wasps were buzzing around my tomato raised bed. Not really a problem as I know if I leave them alone they seem to ignore me. But sitting outside this morning I am noticing there are now 2-3 dozen buzzing around the garden and are aggressively guarding their area from each other. If one gets with 5' of another one, it will chase the intruder away, return to its RR tie and repeat the process again when another gets near. Are these beneficial or detrimental to my garden?

I have noticed they fly and land on the leaves of a nearby elm tree for a few minutes and then return to fly around the garden. And frankly a few don't bother me, but I don't like the fact that there are now so many seemingly agressively guarding their turf.

I try each year to keep my tomato garden from turning into a jungle, but once again I have failed. I literally have to get on my hands and knees and crawl from plant to plant to harvest the fruit and the thought of being trapped in the jungle confines and being buzzed by these nasty looking monsters is growing less appealing as their numbers and aggressive behavior increases daily. Even though I know from being around them I don't ever remember them being aggressive towards me, sitting here watching them for the last couple of hours kind of freaks me out.

So my question is, eradicate or fuggittaboutit? I also have a large dog that using the backyard to keep the yard fertilized and I am wondering if he could be hurt by them if he gets too close? He is getting pretty old and is a family member of the highest order.