IT WAS about this time last year — early autumn — when I first became addicted to an unusual form of sadism.
I realise this should be an embarrassing confession, but I’m totally unashamed, even rather proud of my unnatural behaviour, and I’m getting worse.
I was consumed with frustration and rage as I watched helplessly while dozens of white cabbage butterflies fluttered over my precious cabbage patch.
Constantly they would land just beneath a leaf to deposit their awful egg clusters then triumphantly zigzag away, to prepare for the next assault.
I thought of the massive damage about to be caused by emerging caterpillars as the eggs hatched.
That’s when I reached for my pump-up pressure sprayer, loaded with pyrethrum and aimed a solid jet at the nearest butterfly.
It loved it, even dancing a little in the spray and inviting its parasitic cronies to join the fun.
I realised that cabbage butterflies are completely protected from moisture by water-repellent waxy coats, covering both wings and bodies.
Driven by sheer frustration I added a few drops of household detergent and tried again.
It worked brilliantly and after adjusting the spray mozzle to eject six metre-long jets of pyrethrum death, I was able to shoot them out of the air.
After half an hour of sadistic shooting it looked as if the ground around me was covered with giant snowflakes.
Clearly, a previously dormant hunting instinct had been aroused.
I’ve been repeating this butterfly slaughter recently using just a normal pyrethrum dilution and always adding a few drops of detergent with the same success.
Last year they just dropped dead from the air because of an over-strength mix, but this was too wasteful. A standard dilution is enough to give them a good, wetting squirt and they flutter off to die elsewhere.
This mix is also ideal for exterminating green vegetable bugs and their numerous, speckled young.
I’m now planting out our main winter-spring crop of brassicas.
They include my favourite Savoy and Sugarloaf cabbages, the tastiest and most nutritious varieties.
Some tend to burst their heads in winter and look weird, but they not only remain edible but are actually even more nutritious because of additional, dark green foliage exposed.
I’m also growing cauliflower, broccoli and Italian and Dutch kale (borecole) for non-stop harvesting right through winter to early spring.
And of course I’ve included a large number of the amazing accidental “swede-kale” hybrids I discovered a couple of years ago. These form grapefruit-size, utterly-delicious butter swedes at ground level while producing huge, highly-edible, kale-like leaves.
In cool, inland and mountainous districts, most brassica seedlings have to be planted over the next week or two as a matter of urgency, otherwise the plants fail to develop.
The best seedlings on sale right now are those grown as “plugs”, each in a separate cell.
Just be careful when buying any brassica seedlings, however, and avoid any with tough, purple stems.
This indicates they have remained on sale for too long and have become badly root-bound.
When planted out they grow strongly at first, then bolt uselessly into flower and seed around July — a complete waste of money, time and garden space.
All brassicas need a rich soil, so spread a bag of sheep or pulverised cow manure over every four square metres.
Then scatter a big, double handful of pelletised chook manure over the same area.
Sprinkle generous amounts of blood and bone over the entire area and fork the lot in.
A good, deep watering and the ground is ready to receive the seedlings.
And while you are at it, sow seeds of silverbeet and leave plenty of space for English spinach because these plants thrive despite heavy winter frosts.
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