The Case of the Missing Broccoli

Yesterday as I was checking out my garden I noticed that there were only 3 broccoli plants where I was sure I had planted 5. I looked around and noticed two little stumps. That was all that was left of my two little broccoli plants that I had been raising and pampering for almost 2 months now.

Where once there was this:


Now all I had was this:


I know that every year I'm bound to have some crop loss, but it's still stinky when it happens. I'm also kicking myself for this one since I could have prevented it. The most likely culprits are cut worms and one way of protecting plants is to give them little collars when they are young. I save paper towel and toilet paper rolls to cut and use for this. I slip them around the stem and bury part of them. After the cut worm attack I added these collars to my remaining broccoli and cabbage plants so hopefully this won't happen again.