so far this year is looking good...just got back from working outside most of the morning...i was so happy to see the ladybugs doing their thing...it always seems that my cucumber plants a main target for pest and disease problems every year...well today after going through all my cucumbers plants there were a few ladybugs just taking care of business...as for right now my main pest problems are imported cabbage mouths, aphids, and i am starting to see cucumber beetles little tiny ones...but also i saw my first frog of the season in the garden...and for some reason there are a ton of dragonflies around this year...now after this post i hope i just didn't jinx my myself

Lots of insects means an abundance of insect predators: wasps, spiders, dragonflies, lady bugs... those are all predators! If you don't have the food, the predators wouldnt stay long...

now that I think about it, I think the same year I had a zillion orb weavers, I also had LOTS of dragonflies... and I think that was a fairly wet year for California...

Dragonflies are one of my favorite insects to watch.. pretty, voracious, fast....