Encouraging Cole Crops and trying to Defeat Manduca quinquemaculata

Cabbage and Broccoli planted on Tuesday as seen today:

Green cabbage in the two trays nearest the camera.

A teeny red cabbage emerges.

Broccoli; green cabbage to the right.

After I admired the Cole Sprouts, I shook the tomato limbs

in hopes a bit of pollen would reach its goal.

Then I saw THIS. Manduca quinquemaculata caterpillar.

Tomato hornworm.

Aaack!

Of Cabbages

Christmas Eve, 2013

Today I planted seeds for red cabbage, a type of little green head cabbage and broccoli in little trays. A flat holds 12 red, 12 green and 12 broccoli. By the time they're good size, weather outside should be cool enough for them to thrive.

I did remember to make a label for each kind.

In early 2014 Cabbage and Broccoli were successful winter crops. Black Kale was successful but we were not keen on eating an abundance of Kale, so I am not planting that this year. Kale did not stand up to light frosts as well as cabbage and broccoli. Broccoli kept bearing smaller florets after the first heads were cut. Cabbages will send up tiny heads from the cut stem that look like Brussels Sprouts.

My plan is to put cabbage and broccoli behind tomatoes that I am about to pull in the Fruit Yard. Red cabbage is going in a flower bed where Zinnias are now.

Almost Ready to Close the Greenhouse Door

Every day I bring in another pot, more cuttings, something. When I paused to make a pic record, He-Who-Mows laughed and said it looked better in a photograph than it really does. Maybe so.

Hardly styled for a slick magazine, it's work in progress, year 'round. There are always seeds to scatter or cuttings to strike or things to put in a larger pot.The Kalanchoes around the door went inside last everning in case of frost.

Today I busied myself taking down the last of the tomatoes, hauling off Tithonia plants and making the Cabbage Patch less attractive to digging pets. I gave every plant a dusting of cayenne pepper, then edged them with pine cones. In a few places I stuck some rosemary cuttings -- doubtful they will root but rosemary reputedly repel cats. Ike probably loves rosemary.  If I see more signs of digging, there's a pile of pine straw mulch waiting to be scattered before the first freeze. 

Part of the Cabbage row; Kale opposite.

Cabbage plant and pine cones.

Broccoli plant, pine cone and Rosemary twig.