The Enemy

I only have one plant in the cabbage family in the garden. It is a brussel sprout plant that Just. Won't. Die.  It survived winter and started
pushing out leaves once there was a hint of warmth.  Since it is the only brassica in the garden currently, it attracted my #1 garden pest, the cabbage beetle.

Also called the harlequin bug, cabbage beetles have been in my garden since Year One.  Don't let their good looks fool you, these orange and black devils will destroy your broccoli crop without blinking an eye.

Their eggs are these cute little ying-yang symbols...hiding the terrors within.

They were swarming all over this poor little brussel.  I watered the garden, which makes cabbage beetles climb to the highest point they on the plant.  Then I put on gloves, got a trash bag, sliced the brussel at it's base, and bagged it, bugs and all.  I then hunted through the leaf mulch, squishing remaining bugs one by one.  While cackling.  Loudly.

Hopefully I have fully disrupted their life cycle.  Only time will tell.