The broccolini I planted a couple of months ago is doing quite well. The grey aphids (cabbage aphids, apparently) think so anyway. Boy, do they love it. They are packed tightly into the heads, sucking away, "delicious!" they cry! I tried rinsing them off to no avail, I've tried drowning them in a sink of water, hoping they'd float off, but no go there either. I never did spray them with anything, but I suspect if I saw them and then sprayed they'd just die in the green broccoli haven and stay there tucked in the heads anyway. It's that old thing: prevention is better than cure. I have since read that when the heads begin to develop you can cover them with old pantyhose to keep them out so I will try that with some of the heads to come (but the scientist in me wants to know which denier I should use? And should I use nude pantyhose, or are broccoli more Gothic and would prefer black? Fortunately I have plenty of both after that brief but important time spent in Japan working as an English teacher, where I had to dress in corporate wear: the horror! But I digress...)
Where was I?
Oh yes, broccolini... Anyway, although I intended the broccolini for human consumption, yesterday I had a brainwave: I can feed it to our fish! We have a
Gibby (called 'Gibby,' very inventive) who loves all things green, and I'm certain he or she (we don't know) would appreciate the extra protein provided by the aphids. The broccolini was just starting to flower when I picked it. It's quite pretty, really.
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