While the Gardener is Away, the Cabbage Worms Will Play

There is no such thing as a weekend off.

I was reminded of this over the long 4th of July weekend. I took time of from writing, as well as most housework and even gardening to just kick back and relax with my family. We had a great party on the 4th, and I finally managed to finish reading a novel.

But it's Monday, which means it's time for life to get back to normal. I headed out to the garden this morning to see how everything's coming along, and to snap a few photos, and my eye lit on a big, fat cabbage worm on my broccoli. Of course it was big and fat. It had managed to eat most of a very large broccoli leaf, and had apparently spread to word to its no-good friends about the Brassicas buffet in my yard. A quick scan showed that there were cabbage worms all over my broccoli, and a few on the Brussels sprouts across the path. I grabbed my trusty cup of soapy water and went to work.

About an hour later, I had a cup full of small to largish to rather huge cabbage worms. My husband even took a few inside to meet their demise as breakfast for our turtle, Bowser. It's hard for me to feel sorry for them.

I had been keeping tabs on the cabbage worm situation. As soon as I heard the first gleeful "Ooh, Mommy, look at all of the pretty white butterflies!" from my four-year-old, I started monitoring for the little buggers. I wiped countless tiny eggs off of the undersides of the leaves, only to watch the butterflies laying more eggs right before my eyes. Needless to say, I was torn between admiring this admittedly fascinating process and dreading all of the baby broccoli nibblers I would be dealing with as a result.

So, I'll be spending the next few mornings hunting for cabbage worms. That's all right. As far as garden tasks go, it's not especially difficult, and it definitely gives me the chance to get up close and personal with my Brassicas.