friend or foe

Well, if you ask me foe! The current state of my garden is a bit sad. With the warm weather & lettuce bolting. But the worst of it... I lost 4 plants to a little covert operator. He started out so tiny, it seemed impossible for the polka dot holes all over my broccoli & brussel sprout plants to have been created by him. But he had family stop by for the feast! I picked about 4 isty-bitsy green caterpillars off & carefully brushed all the little black dots, which I had learned from one of my garden gurus were eggs, yuck! Not pleasant business, I tell ya. But necessary for the survival of my brassica oleracea (ha, I looked it up!) plants. And I was done with that or so I thought.

Still more holes appeared & more black specks so my hunting expedition continued. I had to pull plants for fear of widespread damage. And when I thought all were vacated into the vegetative waste barrel, a rogue was spotted. He tried to make his escape by rolling down into the soil but I wasn't having it!! My fingers were poised for proper squashing when a reprieve came.

My sweet William felt such reverence for the fat-off-my-garden caterpillar he created quite a bug oasis in a not so old sidewalk chalk container. The container was quite new actually, but had been upended in haste on our basement floor to accommodate the leaf munching maven. It was a Greenpeace moment in my very backyard. I apparently played the part of big corporation, that's irony for ya.

Not sure the life expectancy of these invasive pests but our little buddy hung around in captivity for a few days until Will decided to set him free. I told him he could only be released far away from my little cultivated plot. Will & his shadow of a sister made their way to the end of the block to accommodate my wishes. I worried about someone else's broccoli but needlessly. Poor guy was already dead for his march :( Will saved this information only for me, as he knew his sister would have been truly upset. Like I said sweet.