For several weeks now we’ve had pretty high levels of insect pressure.  First it was flea beetles, then it was cabbage worms (they come from all the pretty white moths fluttering around).  The latest insects to dine in the garden seem to be Harlequin bugs.

A type of stink bug, they apparently are finding cabbage and broccoli to their liking.  Being relatively large and slow-moving, we opted to control them by hand-picking rather than using a pesticide.  It’s a perfect job for the kids to do.  Walking down the row, they knock the bugs into a bucket of soapy water.  Ivory dish soap seems to work well.  The bugs drown, and then we dump them out on the ground.  I guess they give back the broccoli they ate in the form of fertilizer!

Drowned Harlequin bugs:

A quantity of drowned Harlequin bugs:

Fertilizer in the form of drowned Harlequin bugs: