meandering eats

I hate caterpillars. Looked at the herbs this morning and they were infested. I picked off two big ones and two little ones. The patio table's covered with droppings. The sage is the worst off, but the thyme's pretty heavily affected, too. The oregano has droppings, but does not seem to have any physical bugs.

The thyme also has weird growths on it. Some of the branches are covered with root-like growths. I don't know if it's part of the plant or an infestation of some kind. They're not present on the other plants, so they're probably not associated with the caterpillars. Who knows? I will probably cut off a stem and take it to a garden center.

I might also plant a little pot of something that caterpillars love and treat the rest with BT, which is a bacteria that destroys their digestive tracts. I don't want to kill all of them, as they can be useful and lovely (when they turn into butterflies/moths), but they shouldn't be able to eat my herbs before I do.

Anyway, this weekend will be spent transplanting and keeping the little buggers in line.