The other day I was out in my garden and a butterfly landed on my shoe. It was one of those little white butterflies that you see in the summer that always seem to be playing around the garden. I quickly put my finger out and it just stayed there on my finger for the longest time. Oh how I love butterflies.
Ever since I was a little boy I loved butterflies and was certain I could talk to them. I used to follow them around the yard endlessly and it was always magical to me when I could get one to sit on my finger. It still is magical.
I was seeing lots of these little these white butterflies right around the time I noticed all the holes in some of my plants. I thought that maybe the birds were nibbling on my garden, but as my garden became holier (not in the biblical sense) I figured it was time to do some research.
You see, I studied everything about starting a garden and absolutely noting about what do to once it started to grow. I went online to see what it was destroying my first vegetable garden. I was shocked and saddened by what I found. The culprit was my precious white butterfly.
These butterflies are known as Cabbage Butterflies. The females deposit a single egg on the underside of the leaves in mostly cabbage, broccoli, kale and the like. (For some reason, not my lettuce, though.) When the egg hatches you get a single green caterpillar that starts to feast on your garden. Well, mine really were going to town because I totally encouraged these butterflies. Sadly I had to do something about it.
I looked all over online because I really didn't want to use chemicals on my garden. Even more so since I discovered a bumble bee colony in my yard. I wanted those guys to be safe. So, what was I to do? Most Organic sites recommended picking the caterpillars off by hand. Umm, look at my garden! That was not possible. Besides, I can't see the darn things even with my glasses.
I finally found something called bacillus thuringiensis, which is a natural bacteria that is safe for humans, animals and bees. I read all over the web about this and everything I read said basically the same thing so I bought Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer and a pump sprayer.
They said that cloudy days are the best to spray this stuff and it couldn't be any foggier than today so I am heading out to the garden to spray my plants. They say it won't hurt the butterflies, just the caterpillars. It still makes me a little sad, but I've made sure to apologize to the butterflies.
