ELMER FUDD'S GARDEN

by Rudy Scheibner,
Extension Entomologist

Many of you may not have a garden of your own, but maybe you can help Elmer Fudd with his. Elmer had a terrible time with his vegetable garden last year. He planted his lettuce early in a row running east to west. Later he planted the rest of his garden, but he forgot which direction he had planted the lettuce. He planted the rest of his vegetables in rows running north to south. That is, he meant to run them north to south, and most of them did, but the BEETS and ASPARAGUS rows slanted from northeast to southwest. This flustered Elmer so much that he forgot where he planted anything. He had to wait until the plants came up to see where everything was.

While Elmer was looking for his vegetables, he discovered a lot of other things were in his garden too. At four different spots he found a weed, which wasn't too bad, but at many spots he found one kind of insect or another. The asparagus beetle was on the asparagus, of course, and the potato beetle was on the potato. (In other words, ASPARAGUS BEETLE is a continuation of the word ASPARAGUS and likewise for POTATO BEETLE and POTATO.) The rest of the insects were scattered in all directions. The insects' names run back and forth, up and down, and at a slant, but the letters in each name are always in a straight line. Some names are hard to find because the are spelled backwards.

Elmer spotted Bugs Bunny a couple of times in his garden, but he couldn't catch him because Bugs didn't run in a straight line. Bugs always showed up near a spot in the garden that Elmer had marked with Z's. When Bugs knew he was discovered he would hop in a zigzag path to his burrow entrance which was marked with X's. On some days he would take one path and other days he would take another. The zigzag paths Bugs took spelled out his name, BUGS BUNNY. Can you find the two paths that Bugs used?

After you have done the word search puzzle, see how many questions you can answer from the list following the puzzle.

ELMER FUDD'S GARDEN

A  P  P  C  W  E  E  D  M  A  N  T  I  S  O
C  S  E  G  E  F  W  A  P  W  E  E  D  N  L
A  H  P  R  O  T  H  H  A  C  H  E  L  A  A
B  P  P  A  R  N  I  O  O  O  A  R  C  E  D
B  O  E  S  R  D  T  H  R  R  L  E  S  B  Y
A  T  R  S  S  A  E  H  W  N  W  P  T  W  B
G  A  S  H  Z  Z  G  O  R  I  W  P  O  E  I
E  T  T  O  Z  B  R  U  N  A  B  O  R  E  R
L  O  O  P  W  M  U  G  S  R  E  H  R  D  D
E  B  M  P  H  G  B  P  I  B  L  F  A  M  B
R  E  A  E  I  S  S  L  U  G  E  A  C  Q  E
A  E  T  R  T  B  E  A  N  B  E  E  T  L  E 
D  T  O  H  E  U  N  N  Y  X  K  L  T  S  T
I  L  E  A  F  B  U  G  X  X  S  E  L  L  L
S  E  S  B  L  O  U  M  I  T  E  S  R  S  E 
H  O  N  E  Y  B  E  E  S  B  A  R  K  Q  U
E  K  P  W  E  D  E  W  A  N  T  S  A  U  A
S  R  E  C  C  A  T  E  R  P  I  L  L  A  R
B  A  A  N  B  E  L  E  T  T  U  C  E  S  T
O  L  S  E  A  F  I  D  E  S  N  A  G  H  G

These are the vegetables Elmer planted

• ASPARAGUS
• BEANS
• BEETS
• CABBAGE
• CARROTS
• CORN
• KALE
• LEEKS
• LETTUCE
• OKRA
• PEAS
• PEPPERS
• POTATO
• RADISHES
• SQUASH
• TOMATOES

• Ants
• Aphids
• Asparagus Beetle
• Bean Beetle
• Borer
• Caterpillar
• Earworm
• Flea Beetle
• Grasshopper
• Honey Bees
• Hornworm
• Lace Bug
• Lacewing
• Ladybird Beetle
• Leaf Bug
• Leafhopper
• Mantis
• Mites
• Potato Beetle
• Slug
• Wasps
• Weed (4)
• Whitefly
• White Grub

QUESTIONS ABOUT THINGS IN ELMER FUDD'S GARDEN

1. When Elmer was sowing his lawn, two seeds blew into his garden and sprouted as grass plants. Why did Elmer call these two grass plants weeds?
2. Why are weeds bad in a garden?
3. Two of the plant-eating pests in Elmer's garden are not insects. Which ones are they?
4. At least five of the insects in the garden are helpful. Which ones are they, and how are they helpful?
5. Which pests suck sap from the plants?
6. Which insects chew plant leaves?
7. Which insects will develop into moths or butterflies?
8. Which pest chews roots or underground parts of plants?
9. Of the vegetables planted, which ones have roots that are good to eat?
10. Which plant grows edible tubers?
11. Which plants produce edible fruit? ("Fruit" can be defined in various ways, but what is meant here is the part of the plant that contains the seeds.)
12. Which plant produces and edible bulb?
13. We can eat the young stem, or shoot, of what plant?
14. Which plants have seeds as the main edible part?
15. Which plants have leaves that can be eaten?
16. Which plant will come up year after year without having to be replanted?
17. Some of the vegetables are normally eaten raw, and some are normally cooked first, and some may be eaten either way.
18. Which vegetables have you eaten, and did you eat them raw or cooked?