Hungry Caterpillars!

I am growing a whole host of new crops this year, including cabbages and calabrese (like broccoli).  Things were going very well until a cabbage white butterfly tracked my plants down.  I have a vague feeling that the plants give off an odour which the butterflies pick up on.

It's tricky really, every since I was a child, I have loved butterflies.  My Grandad used to have collections of exotic butterflies pinned under glass which I used to like looking at.  When I was four or five, I used to try and add to his collection.  I would catch Red Admirals in my shrimping net and take them around to his house, as he lived two doors down from us.  My Grandad used to carefully take the butterflies out of the net and pop them under an upturned jar.

I have a funny feeling as soon as I was gone he used to let them go again in the garden.  I sincerely hope he did anyway!

When I was a bit older, I collected caterpillars in the garden and kept them in a large jar with holes in the lid.  I fed them up and watched as they became chrysalis.  I remember going down one morning weeks later to find butterflies testing their wings in the jar, the transformation complete.  I had such pleasure releasing them into the garden.

So here I am, years later, still enjoying watching the butterflies in my garden.  But then it struck me, butterflies lay eggs which hatch into caterpillars, which eat my cabbages and calabrese!   Nightmare!  I didn't have the heart to destroy the eggs so carefully laid or the caterpillars happily feasting.

When I thought about it, sometimes you just have to garden for wildlife.  If you want butterflies, you need to grow plants that attract them.  Caterpillars are eaten by the birds who I also want to attract, so I guess sometimes you just need to sacrifice a little to attract much richer rewards.

Who wants to eat cabbage anyway?