The drought is widespread, across Missouri and well beyond. Oklahoma and Texas are suffering even more than Missouri gardeners, which is hard to imagine. Here at Long Creek Herb Farm, in the Ozarks, we are watering 8-12 hours a day but with 100-106 degrees daily for the past two weeks, plants just won't produce. Tomatoes and peppers have ceased setting fruit. And the pests! Red spider is a problem on the 100 tomato plants we have, a problem I've not encountered before. Army worms, tomato worms and stink bugs are all attacking the tomatoes. Squirrels are trying to carry off not-yet-ripe tomatoes, raccoons, too. And the armadillos dig anywhere the soil is moist and the earthworms are near the top of the ground.

So one has to wonder, is there anything good to be found in this disastrous garden season? Yes, I think there is. Butterflies! I'm not sure I've ever seen so many black swallowtail butterflies. There are hundreds of them flying over the highways as I travel. It's impossible to avoid hitting a dozen or more, just in a 20 mile drive. Where do all these butterflies come from, you may wonder? From those beautiful caterpillars you've been finding on your parsley, dill and fennel.

I recommend not killing these caterpillars. They only eat a couple of leaves before they're big enough to turn into a larva, where they hang by a thread for a week or so, then hatch into the beautiful black swallowtail butterfly. Don't kill them, they aren't going to kill the plants they're on. It's like you and a chicken dinner, you only want what you need, you don't have to eat the entire buffet. Let the caterpillars live in peace and you will get to enjoy the amazing bounty of butterflies this otherwise disparaging garden season.

Happy gardening! even in tough times.