All is Lost

  Gone.  Kaput.  Done for.  Everything is lost.  Yep, as much as it has provided for us this winter, the broccoli has gone to complete and utter rubbish. This, though part of the life of broccoli, is not all of its own doing.  While I did intentionally let the stuff bloom and then go to seed, its demise was a different story altogether.  By the way, most folks do not realize that when eating the lovely, healthy green stuff, they are actually eating the buds of the plant.  Those buds do eventually open to make quite pretty, yellow flowers.  And I mean by "most folks"...everyone else that eats broccoli.  We not only munch the nice, fat heads but also the broad leaves that adorn the stalks.  These are delicious!  I am surprised that no one else has ever discovered this fact and demanded that they be offered in the grocery stores!  Broccoli leaves when steamed make a healthy pot of greens to add to the supper table!  So folks, eat all the buds you want but try the leaves as well!

  Now that I have totally gotten away from the fact that my broccoli...greens, buds and blooms, has come to a sad end, I will explain the  reason.  WORMS!  Or, more accurately, CATERPILLARS!  To be even more accurate, Cross-striped Cabbageworms.  Not fun critters at all when they are devouring my supper.  These critters will eventually change into cute, innocent-looking moths but do not let looks deceive you!  Their young have voracious appetites and have a penchant for my broccoli.  

  It seems that the Cross-striped Cabbageworms and their happy moth parents are a southern thing.  Perhaps they do not like the cooler weather and prefer our warm, wet springs and hot summers but I do wish they were not so comfortable in my garden.  I have a particular distaste for spraying nasty chemicals on my foodstuffs so, as I see it, I have several choices.  I can try to convince the birds that the caterpillars are tasty, pull up my prized broccoli plants or let the moths win.  The first would be the happiest choice but how do you sway a bird to doing your work for you.  The last...not hardly!  In my garden, caterpillars that munch the plants are not welcome.  So...I suppose the plants will be yanked from the ground, doused in boiling water to kill the worms and then will become compost for a future garden.  Things look dismal for the plants.....I'm sorry Broccoli!  Our friendship was beautiful while it lasted.