2 setbacks

i. This happened several weeks ago now, but I just remembered after reading posts about stolen plants on Apartment Therapy and Life on the Balcony. When I bring plants home from the store I tend to just set them in a space in one of my raised beds until I'm ready to plant them, and sometimes that takes several days as I tend to buy plants I'm not sure what to do with. One such plant was stolen out of my raised bed, IN MY YARD, and it was one of two the same. Someone stole one little $2 annual and not the other?? It wasn't the loss of the plant itself that was discouraging, so much as the knowledge that someone was wandering around in my yard. My neighbour suggested that maybe two crows carried the plant off, holding the pot in their beaks, and I've chosen to believe that story because I like it much more than the alternative.

In previous years I have used old pop or juice bottles, spray-painted black, to try to keep plants warm in the early spring. And I have had those stolen out of my yard as well (presumably for the deposit although I don't know if they can even recycle them once they've been spray painted). It's funny how your own yard feels like so much a part of your territory that it's hard to imagine anyone going in -- even though in my case, there is no gate or fence between the yard and the front street, so people do make their way through more regularly than I would like. (There is a narrow sidewalk between my house and my neighbour's which connects the front sidewalk with the back alley. This year we built a fence across it in the back, and later this summer I hope to put a gate across it in the front. I think a big part of the reason people wander through is psychological -- because it's not closed off, it feels like there's no reason NOT to explore.)

ii. Two days ago, I pulled out all my broccoli and cauliflower from the Back 40 (only 8 plants). The plants were full of holes and very droopy, so I could tell something was wrong. When I pulled them out, their roots were full of what I imagine must be cabbage fly maggots. It was pretty disgusting. I had inter-planted garlic among my brassicas to try to keep the bugs away, but apparently that wasn't enough. I have a half-dozen more growing in the East Farthing, plus some kale, all under floating row covers. I will see whether those become infested as well. I'm getting to the point where I don't think I'll bother with brassicas anymore. It's up to the last few cauliflower and broccoli, as well as the baby Kale, to change my mind.

(The way I wrote that made it sound like I have a baby named Kale. The weird thing is that, working in a public library, I am exposed to weird names for kids CONSTANTLY and the first thing that occurred to me was, hmm, Kale is kind of a nice name. And I imagine it could be for a boy or a girl since, let's face it, it's a vegetable.)