Who stole my broccoli?

I went out today to collect my first taste of fresh organic home grown Broccoli. 

But look. It is missing. 

Cut at almost 45 degree angles.

My cabbage leafs have holes started.

But the criminal is still on board. 

And no it is not the cabbage moth.

Baby Leopard slugs.are eating my Cabbage leafs in the photo above,

Adult Limax maximus

Leopard slugs in the photo below.

 

In the past I have tried the can of beer in a bowl trick and found it too much trouble. 

I have used the egg shells . Would love to pour salt on them. 

I did the rings of copper. But no longer have any copper to use.Penny's are not real copper any more so They do not send off enough charge to create a barer.  

But I am just going to pick them off. And tear off the lower leaves. Add ruff wood mulch.

Would also like to plant garlic bulbs beside the plant. We will see. 

The next photo has Elephant ear garlic  already near ready to bloom.

Could it be The teenage bunny rabbits  

They have been very active  in my yard. 

They are not even afraid of my cat.

Or could it be the ground hogs I evicted from under my home.?

Looks like this will be another year of famine.

I am pro organic and heirloom.

But will be forced to buy store bought broccoli again this year. 

I still have hope for the tomatoes and some of the other produce I planted.

Broccoli. cabbage, megshift greeen house

Starting on the left side of photo. I planted spinach seed. next row to the right yellow onion sets are up about 2 inches. Yesterday I was able to try out my new mini tiller. I put in 6 cabbage plants. 3 were planted with composted manure. And 3 with mushroom.compost. Row 4, I planted 6 broccoli,  using composted mushroom. Row 5, I planted 6 broccoli with composted manure added to the soil. I hope to compare and see if there is any difference in growth or outcome. I have never used mushroom compost before.

With all the rain and cold. I had to add plastic to the tomato area. It looks like it is working. The tomatoes still look good. I hope to prevent early blight by not letting the plants be hit by way too much rain.

I had a bit of help from my oldest grandson. We dug a trench and placed red potato cuttings, in a 12 foot row. I added a mix of topsoil and manure, to cover. After I see growth I will keep adding more soil mix and straw. till I end up with a mound of dirt.

This is an overview of the tomatoes This was a quick easy meg shift green house. I took aluminum wire. Like balling wire. ran it between the fence poles. Halfway up on outer sides.And near the top on the middle post.I used painters plastic tarps from a roll. They are 10x10.. I used duct tape to reinforce the seam in the middle. To make it 20x10. I used 2, 20x10  to cover the 12x 8 area. The rain did bring some parts to the ground safely. This helped to keep the plastic from blowing off. I used wood boards and garden tools to hold the sided to the ground.. It is not pretty. But it saved the plants. And held up better than a green house I built with pvc. And way less money spent this way.

If it ever stops raining long enough, I will add cardboard or news papers to the path between the rows.

Garden research. using red and silver ground cover

I am testing colored mulch in my garden this year.
This is my garden today. We finally have sun shine today here in Missouri.

This is my Hillbilly (Flame) tomato in a self watering 5 gallon bucket. I added the red plastic mulch to the top. It will help to conserve watter loss and we will see if the red color will enhance production. Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge for a better view. I am recovering from sinus surgery so my garden is far from complete this year.
There seem to be a difference already The cauliflower on the red side it getting a bit bigger than the silver side
I used aluminum foil on the inside. And silver reflective mulch on both out side edges.I have silver plastic mulch I ordered on the left end and red material on the right.
Peppers in front tomatoes on fence.
The broccoli seem to have small tops. This is caused from heat increasing too soon.
The tomatoes are making a complete recovery from having yellow and damage leaves.
I added more soil and removed all the damaged leaves on the bottom. Then topped it with cypress mulch. Today I added egg shells crushed. This will detour slugs and add calcium to the soil. I snapped off the suckers on the leaves today also. I will be adding a bit of coffee grounds to the soil latter today. They add a bit of fertilizer and deture some animals.
The bush beans are growing by leaps and bounds with no mulch as yet. I will be placing dry grass on them as soon as I can get it done.

Cauliflower cabbage

Date: 04 April 2009

today I started seed of

Ferry's round Dutch cabbage it is said to be 3-5 pounds vigorous plant.

Cauliflower Early snowball A it is a cool weather veggie too.

sidereal zodiac (Maria Thun)

Leaf Cancer
Waxing gibbous

Cancer (water, feminine); Crab; Moon; Breast/Stomach; moist and fruitful Widely considered to be the most productive of all the signs and most frequently used for planting both above-ground and root crops. Plant seeds, transplant, irrigate, bud/graft. Asparagus, barley, beets, berries, bulbs, carrots, corn, lettuce, potatoes, roses, herbs, wheat, and deciduous trees do very well. Start compost heaps and worm farms when the moon is in the fourth quarter under Cancer.

Farmer Almanac tv said April 2-4 Plant tomatoes, beans, peppers, corn, cotton, and other above ground crops on these most fruitful days. Plant seed beds. Start flower gardens.

The CABBAGE FAMILY INCLUDES

(Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, kale and kohlrabi)
Companions: Beet, celery, chard, cucumber, lettuce, onion, potato, spinach.

NOTE:
Chamomile and garlic improve growth and flavor.
Dill improves growth and health.
Kohlrabi and tomato stunt each other's growth.
Insect control
Catnip, hyssop, rosemary and sage deter cabbage moth.
Mint deters cabbage moth and ants, improves health and flavor.
Nasturtium deters bugs, beetles, aphids.
Southernwood deters cabbage moth, improves growth and flavor.
Tansy deters cabbage worm and cutworm.
Thyme deters cabbage worm.



A
2009 Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events