Broccoli success

Well, it seems we can grow broccoli in Perth! At least in the winter months. I last tried around spring last year and the white cabbage moth was everywhere. I had experimented using moth shaped white plastic decoys, but I'm not convinced they worked.


We planted some dwarf broccoli in a small bed which gets a lot of sun throughout the day and we've had success! The magpies and crows thought they were pretty nice too - so we draped a bit of bird netting over the broccoli to protect the small heads.

We didn't get too many slugs or snails either - in general, all quiet on the bug front!



I'll be monitoring the change in seasons more closely in future, to really capitalise on the relatively mild winter and the absence of the cabbage moth more so!

Happy gardening!

Fake it: cabbage moth or not?

Spring gardening a photo by margoc on Flickr.

I'm a tad averse to growing Brassicas, as they get destroyed by the very efficient and hard-to-spot green larvae of the Cabbage Moth.

However, I got some leftover seedlings of Red Chard and Red Cabbage from my mother-in-law and they seem to have taken off well.

So, I thought I'd try an experiment as seen on Gardening Australia recently: I've made some fake white cabbage moths out of white plastic for the cabbage patch and over the tomatoes too (we'll see what happens between each of them), as they seem to be territorial - err, the moths that is, not the vegies. :o)



So far, we have seen but one green caterpillar on the cabbages - it's looking promising! Will remain vigilant though as these green monsters are very determined creatures!

If you're not sure about pests in your garden, check out the GA website for lots of great tips, starting with this list from Sophie.

And speaking of pests, how's this for a haul of Slaters? Good work Clancy! :o)



Happy gardening!