Hi there! Please be happy with the wasps on your dill, even though I don't know which type they are. They're very likely to be good guys that will parasitize the bad guys. Encourage them to bring good health to your garden by planting things like dill, parsley, thyme, cilantro - anything with tiny flowers. As for your strawberries, I thin mine by removing the parents and keeping the kids. I hope this helps! Maureen

I'd say the sunflowers will attract more bugs that will move onto your plants. Those are relatives of stink bugs and squash bugs. Hard to kill. I think the best control is checking the leaves for the eggs and squishing them before they can hatch. But it's hard with a large garden and large squash plants.

A treatment for aphids, and don't use dishwashing detergent. The recipe isn't new, but a lot of people have damaged their plants by using the wrong soap. I found several bars of Ivory Soap in the linen closet. They're old, and nobody likes them because they leave a scum on everything. I used a potato peeler to shave enough of the soap bar into warm water to make it cloudy -- it shaves off in tiny white granules, maybe because it's so old. Note: Ivory bar soap does have fragrance added, but only a very small amount. So use with care. Ivory Claims - The soap that floats. - 99.44% pure. - Simple. Naturally clean. - Leaves skin feeling naturally clean. - Contains no dyes or heavy perfumes or lotions. Ingredients Sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, water, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, magnesium sulfate, and fragrance. Here are the directions: To prepare this soap spray you'll need the following ingredients: Pure, white soap Use our Original Oatmeal Soap or a store brand like Ivory. Make sure the soap has no dyes or fragrances since they can damage plant foliage. Also DO NOT use detergents such as liquid dish soap. Unlike soap which is organic, detergents are chemical cleaners and are toxic to most plants. Light Vegetable Oil Canola, corn, and safflower are all good examples of a light vegetable oil. It's important to make sure that it's a light vegetable oil, and not a heavy one such as peanut to ensure that the oil evaporates from the plant's leaves before they're smothered. Water Plain old tap water will do just fine. Spray Bottle or Garden Sprayer To apply the soap spray. Making the soap spray Drop the bar of white soap into a container such as a small bowl and add two cups of water. Allow the soap to sit in the water overnight or until enough of the soap has dissolved to make the water white and cloudy. Once enough soap has dissolved, remove the soap bar from the water and pour the soap solution into your spray bottle or garden sprayer. Add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, seal the sprayer and shake well. Application You can use the soap spray on all types of indoor or outdoor plants, including vegetables. Spray the infested plant well enough to thoroughly wet the leaf, making sure to get both the top and the bottom. For light infestations a single application should be enough. For heavier infestations (especially on outdoor plants and trees), apply the soap spray every day for three days. Then once a week to control re-infestations. How does the soap spray work? Soft-bodied insects such as aphids breath through openings in the sides of their body. Pure white soap contains large molecules of fatty acids and glycerin that will clog those openings and essentially suffocate the pest. The vegetable oil is used as a sticking agent that allows more of the spray to stay on the leaf without dripping off. The soap spray that does drip off decomposes in the soil without affecting the plant. The spray that remains on the leaf evaporates after a day or two. Super strength spray For tougher insects such as cucumber beetles, Colorado beetles, various caterpillars, and similar pests, you can make a super-strength version of this spray by adding ground hot chili peppers. The heat of the peppers repels most chewing insects. (Note, however, that this spray can burn the leaves of some tender plants. Make sure to test it on a small area before dousing the entire plant.) Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Insecticidal Soap for Aphid Control

Thanks for all the replies. I researched it once I read elly's reply. Glad to see its not a garden pest and yes we do live about a 100 yds. or so from a creek and about 300 yds. from a pond. what scared my wife the most was that it was a male with those HUGE mandibles! It was close to 5 inches long total and when it flew, it looked like a small bird! LOL! She was pretty mad at me for not "squashing" it but that passed fairly quickly once we read up on what it was. Thanks for the quick replies, now our lives can get back to normal. ;-)