Early on in our gardening adventures, we were dismayed to find these pesky beasts decimating our basil and mint.
They may be a pretty green, but in our view they’re criminals. When we find them, they take the fast train — that is, we throw them over the fence.
On the other side of that fence, there is a train line. What happens to them on the wrong side of the tracks is none of our business.
It may sound cruel, but it works for us. Snails and slugs get the same treatment, although we also try to deter them with broken eggshells around the seedlings.
At least it’s more humane than the ‘firm shoe heel’ method suggested on this Whirlpool forum. And less icky. I love the smell of basil & mint on my fingers after combing through the foliage for caterpillars.
The Green Living Centre pamphlet told us to plant Chinese cabbage as a ‘sacrifice’ crop, but when co-Broughton-blogger Bevatu18 inquired at the local plant shop for seedlings, she was told they were out of season.
We could go looking for cabbage seeds instead, but thankfully the problem seems to have abated. Both mint and basil have aggressively fought back and are thriving, as you can see below. This is perhaps because in spite of our inexperience, we’ve managed to create a healthy garden, which is apparently the secret to a lot of pest control problems.
Interesting to note, the caterpillars didn’t like our purple basil — I guess they know they wouldn’t be safe in there. They didn’t like the Vietnamese mint either, don’t know what that’s about.
Finally, a bonus pic. I don’t know what these pretty winged critters are but here they are busily creating more. I hope their offspring aren’t as pesky as the caterpillars. Can anyone tell us?
broughtongarden 