Caterpillar Invasion Kitchen Garden Under Attack
Nightmare at Goldeneye’s River Cottage - an invasion of caterpillars !
Whilst casually sauntering around the grounds this afternoon my stroll took me passed the market garden section 
Imagine my horror when confronted with this
Caterpillar Invasion
There were literally 100s and all over my courgettes and broccoli - I sprang into action (I’m good in a crisis) and set about my enemy. I was thankful for the experience and training garnered hunting slugs - it stood me in good stead.
Closer inspection revealed scenes of devastation such as this
Warning some viewers may find these images disturbing
Caterpillar Damage to Leaves
Complete plants had been stripped to their stems 
The leaves on the broccoli plants have taken a pounding, as to whether this will kill them off I don’t know.
I collected tons of them sealing them in bags and destroying them !
Following on from mosquitoes in Lincolnshire I also got bitten on the arm !
A lump swelled up to half golf-ball size 
But, as predicted, the Goldeneye constitution is such that it had completely disappeared within less than an hour !
I am ever grateful for having a mixture making up the ultimate gene pool 
as to the mozzy, I suspect it died of alcohol poisoning.
Overall then, something of a disaster which sprang out of nowhere - no indications this morning.
Drat, Drat and Double Drat
Rod
A Retired Bookdealer said,
August 20, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
” A visit to the M & S Veg section it is then !.
Rod said,
August 20, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
ARB
When I look at the amount of money invested in this veg plot, especially if I factor in the hours given to it and what I could have made selling books or building spammy website pages instead I probably could have bought the M&S chain outright !
A Retired Bookdealer said,
August 20, 2007 @ 8:26 pm
Rod,
Never mind the expense, if you enjoy working in the garden carry on with it. I don’t know but possibly a veg patch is one of those things that takes a couple of years to get the hang of, sadly caterpillars and other minor setbacks will have to be dealt with along the way.
“Good luck with it all anyway”.
Who knows one day soon you may even land something on the dinner table before your furry little friends get hold of it.
Jordan said,
August 21, 2007 @ 9:22 am
Hi
Very disturbing! Devastation yes.
Have a look see what safe and natural ways there are to stop this problem. Alan Titmarsh web site, gardeners world.
Dont put anything harmfull down as it may harm other wildlife.
Jordan
Rod said,
August 21, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
Jordan
rest assured I’ll be using no chemicals or such like.
I’m just off now as a few more have turned up
Best
Rod