Cicada invasion!

About a week ago I started to notice a strange, high-pitched sound emanating from the woods behind our home. My first thought was that it was some sort of power equipment- perhaps the neighborhood behind ours was doing some repaving? But the sound was persistent, and after two days of listening to it I broached the subject with my husband. He was equally clueless, so we set out into the backyard in search of the source.

It definitely seemed to be coming from the wooded area. Upon closer inspection, we saw them- hordes of bugs flying around up in the trees!

I'd never seen such things before, and neither had Frank. So I put out a plea to the "experts" (ie my Facebook friends) and they concluded that these are cicadas. Just my luck that the first time in 13 years they appear in the South is the year I plant my first garden!

Fortunately they seem content with the trees, so far... I really hope it stays that way. I found one in a tomato plant this afternoon and promptly shooed it off. Fingers crossed they don't trash my plants. :(

Impending doom aside, my garden seems to be doing quite well! Here's an updated shot:

 Check out my formerly teeny tomatillo plant! Unfortunately it hasn't started fruiting yet, and neither has my coveted Mr. Stripey. But everything else has tiny tomatoes starting to appear!

 My container plants were the first to start fruiting. The potted Early Girl is still ahead of the game, as her name implies:

 These are my biggest babies so far, approximately golf ball sized.

A few more sproutlings. Lovely!

My Roma plants are the most recent to take fruit, with tiny beginnings starting to pop in the last 24 hours. Very cool, though.