Snacking on Aphids

The cavalry have arrived. And not before time.

I was beginning to think I was going to get a very short and scanty broccolini season this year. The warmer than usual winter has brought aphids, early and en masse. About half my broccolini heads have been going straight to the chooks, and the other half needing to be soaked in a sink full of cold water then swished around (as if in rapids) before cooking. And green flies have found the broad beans too.

My strategy with the green flies is usually just to tap the tips of the broad beans where they congregate on the palm of my hand then rub hands together to squish them (my granddaughter is an expert at the technique now). It works well and the best bit is that it leaves enough to convince the ladybeetles that the menu at this broad bean resort is five star. But broad beans have a very short window of opportunity here in northern NSW, and climate change is closing it. It’s nail-biting stuff waiting for the ladybeetles.

The question I see come up more often than any other in garden forums is how to deal with pests. And I get it. Watching the aphids arrive right when your beautiful broccolini get to the stage where you don’t know if you want to eat it or photograph it is hard, especially in a small garden. It takes nerve to hold fire and trust that the cavalry will, indeed, arrive in time. If I use any insect killing technique, I risk killing predators along with the target insect, or at best discouraging them by removing their food source. The target already has a head start and the predators are always slower to breed up, so it amounts to making a large commitment to long term pest killing.

So I’m glad holding my nerve has paid off. There are ladybeetles all over the broccolini and the broad beans today, feasting, mating, laying eggs. And they have a voracious appetite.