Weeding in the cabbage patch

sink cabbageDown to earth with a bump: I’m squishing caterpillars in the sink.

Yep.  No praise be for good deeds here. Just a race against grubs.

This has been my first task since I’ve had the mountain for myself.

And boy has there been neglect under the nets.  Drought and a few intrepid cabbage moth butterflies have laid their eggs in among the cavolo nero kale. And the calabrese. preweed

But as with all big jobs, there is no point squeaking about it all; you just get down and start.  And for me that meant the top end to the bottom; pulling off dead stalks, weeding, and then merrily inspecting and squishing.

It was more fun when I put on my gloves.

img_2705And of course I decided to harvest a few armfuls of greens at the same time.

Which meant I was trudging down to the kitchen to dump loads and loads into the deeply filled sink.

Some were so shredded they were lace. With grubs and the occasional slug hiding in the folds.

Sorry this is a bit graphic.

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But I do like a warts an all approach to garden blogs. None of this instagram prettiness for me.

And on that note I’m off to chop the greens and shove them into the over crowded fridge. I am living on house party leftovers. Which means I have a very balanced diet of cold barbecue sausages and grilled chicken, tomatoes galore and chocolate brownies with rich crème fraîche.  But not necessarily in that order.