The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I'm not allowed to plant a garden in my front yard, and I haven't got room in my minuscule back yard to plant anything, and I'm pretty sure the lawn guys would mow it down anyway.  So I felt very clever when I came up with a way to plant a little garden.  Delaney had broken her dresser a few weeks ago.  I used the remaining 2 drawers as planters and put them in the yard.  I got some tomato, zucchini, and cucumber plants to go in them, and found pumpkin and watermelon seeds for the kids to plant. It was all very exciting.

Here you can see how the zukes and cukes are thriving.  The pumpkin and watermelon seeds are sprouting and the kids are thrilled to see it happen.  I was disappointed in the tomatoes performance though.  They were not growing and looked rather sickly.  I wasn't sure if it was lack of sun or water or love. 

And then, yesterday, I discovered the culprit!  Do you see the gigantic caterpillar?!!  And do you see that my poor tomato plants have no leaves anymore?!! 

Yep, there's the fat little guy.  He was the hugest, roundest caterpillar I have ever seen!  Callie delivered it to the neighbor's dog, since none of us had the courage to squash such a monster!  I don't know if my tomatoes will recover, but I'll be more vigilant in caterpillar watching.