Posts Tagged: cole crops

Cabbage White Butterfly Not So Bad?

It's the butterfly we're supposed to hate. That would be the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. Its larvae or cabbageworms are pests of...

A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on catmint. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on catmint. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The larvae of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, are considered pests of cole crops, but we should be thanking them for giving us the pungent taste of wasabi and mustard, scientists say. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The larvae of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, are considered pests of cole crops, but we should be thanking them for giving us the pungent taste of wasabi and mustard, scientists say. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Winter Vegetable Gardening

I absolutely love having a winter vegetable garden--wonderfully easy to grow greens such a great variety of lettuces, kale, cabbage, and broccoli. I and my new puppy, Katie, go out early each morning and pick fresh veggies for my husband's green smoothie, as well as clipped leaves for his take-to-work salad. I greet the day, she attacks the borecole (kale) with delightful vigor, and my husband eats very well.

I start my plants from seed inside the garage in the fall under a grow light using small pots. These same seeds could be started indoors under a window that gets bright sun most of the day. When the plants are 4-5 inches tall, I begin to harden them off (leaving them outside for several hours each day for about a week, enabling them to adjust to the outdoors). Then out into my raised beds they go. As the plants are young and fresh, I make sure I use snail bait*, as I am not willing to share.

One of the primary benefits I have always touted is the absents of needing to water a winter garden. We can actually go away in our RV and not worry about the soil drying out and the garden dying--UNTIL THIS YEAR! Oh my, where is winter? I just does not seem fair. Mother Nature does not play by the rules. She makes them up as she goes along. Therefore, Katie and I now need to spend time watering instead of chasing balls and we have had to postpone her first RV trip. Additionally I must remember to cover the raised beds at night when temperatures are predicted to drop below freezing. Old sheets work well for this task.

The weather report seems to never change, and I have found myself cringing when I hear someone talk about what a beautiful day it is today-- again. Winter! Please get here before spring.

*note: use the snail bait with Iron Phosphate as the active ingredient as it is safe around pets and children.  Baits with Metaldehyde are very poisonous and should be avoided!

Winter vegetables. (photo by Cheryl Potts)

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