Garden – Bugs and Broccoli

My brassica’s have taken a beating from bugs this year. I am a new Gardner, so my first mistake was mistaking cabbage moths for cute white butterflies. Then the white powdery mildew showed up on the broccoli.

But I could not figure out what was eating them. I tried some neem oil for the broccoli to help with the powdery mildew, and BT spray for the cabbage. Still, I am fighting them.

I suspect, I planted too much of each, cabbage and broccoli, too close together. Next year I will change it up and intermix things so there isn’t one giant buffet for things to get out of hand. It will also help me separate and treat individual plants without the whole crop being effected.

However, some of my broccoli was ready to harvest.

Taste-wise and it’s very different from grocery store broccoli, which is lower on flavor and more woody in texture. Not all the plants were ready, but that’s fantastic because I can spread the broccoli harvest out and get more still as time goes on. So my leftover pizza dinner plans for tonight will be put on hold, and broccoli and chicken teriyaki will happen instead.

My last issue is with earwigs. I found them in my sunflowers first, and wasn’t sure if they were a good or bad bug. They eat plants so they are definitely bad. I mean, I am okay with them existing, as they are plant eaters, not ear eaters, and actually protect their young and not really worried about the ear wig public relations disaster they have going on. I’m not sure who decided they go into people’s ears, but it’s kind of funny disinformation campaign.

I learned I could set out olive oil or fat traps. I had some extra bacon fat from breakfast yesterday’s and mixed it with enough olive oil to maintain liquidity, and set them out. they are nocturnal, so I waited until this morning to check.

Earwigs are assholes because they eat your plants. I have been seeing them everywhere, and I think it may be the uncharacteristic heat this summer. I’m not an earwig expert. Maybe they are always everywhere every year. I won’t know until I have a few more years here.

I was pleased I caught some, though.

I’ll leave the traps out until it rains. With the new irrigation system, they won’t get in the way so they can happily sit out there for a bit. Maybe thin the population down.

Hopefully, I can win the battle and hold all the pests off long enough to get my harvest in from the cabbage and broccoli.