The Good
Up to the patch to see how the Sage and vegetables have gotten on without me over the last few weeks. Fantastic it would seem. The remaining carrots were pulled while the brassicas have really come on and none more so than the cauliflower and broccoli.
The Lisbon Spring Onions are hot, hot hot while the leeks are wonderfully young and tender. Up above on the trees the apples are nice and swollen and the wasps a buzzing.
The Bad
Well that’s the good out the way, but of course not everything goes to plan so we need to address the bad and the ugly. If only all the cauliflower turned out like the one above. In another bed, the hearts are far from being tight, as can be seen below.
The Ugly
The cabbage plants are falling prey to a pest with the leaves resembling a holey form of swiss cheese. There are no tell tale slug trails, some of the leaves are too high for pigeons and there are very few caterpillars around. The answer could be found by immersing a cabbage head in water. Out crawled the suspects. Earwigs and what looked like an extended family. Better look this up and how to deal with it. Any ideas?
Well as it is the weekend I cannot leave on such an ugly note so here is a photo of rain drops on a savoy cabbage leaf. Have fun.
No….No..l Also found out that those B#####d’s called earwigs DO so much damage ! sorry bout the language, but they did cause more trouble than pigeons and white butterflies this year! As for Caulies, yes…I have also got those “open” hearts ! Cabbages do harbour those slinky slugs too, you cannot see them, but you can see their poo in the crevices of each leaf ! I am changing and hoping to confuse all predators next year, by planting brassicas in my cheapish green tunnel, where I will be able to have more control. Sorry for raving on, but I know how you feel ! 😉
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Last year we picked off caterpillars by hand bit you cannot even seen these blighters. They attack at night. BOy have they done damage this year. We’re still having fun mind! MM 🍀
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One year I grew broccoli under cover, the intent of which was to discourage cabbage white butterfly damage. I could see it growing and thriving under the cover, and looked forward to my first home-grown broccoli.
The harvest day arrived. In great anticipation, I lifted the cover only to find slugs not only infested the broccoli, they’d turned the patch into a nursery! The whole crop barely yield a small florette or two, and that required lots of inspection for slugs and spoiled spots.
Gardening isn’t for sissies!
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Most books say that earwigs are good as they eat aphids.They should see the mess they have made of our cabbages! Not for sissies. MM 👍
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