Harlequin bugs doin' it in our collards

We stopped by the Druid Hill garden yesterday to take a look and found most of our cold weather crops are done done done for the year. No big surprise there. What was surprising, however, was the massive number of crazy little black and orange bugs covering our collards. After we ripped out the plants, the ground was actually writhing with them. A quick look on the Md Extension website and now we have a name for the little creeps: Harlequin bugs. (E visited the garden today and said, "There's a Harlequin bug orgy in our kale.") And because we can, I offer you a picture of Harlequin bugs mating.
Other exciting things from the Druid Hill garden: For the first time ever, we have successfully(ish) done broccoli and cabbage. E brought home about 3 heads of broccoli a few weeks ago, which he later steamed to perfection. Yesterday we found three heads of cabbage too. Small, sure, barely worth picking perhaps, but still three, count 'em, three cabbages! Next year we'll have to try to get them in a little sooner than mid-April and maybe we'll have a respectable harvest.
The Fox St. garden looks like pure death: the peas have all died back, not surprising given that it's been in the 90s for the last couple weeks. The potatoes and shallots are also giving up the ghost. For these, at least, you aren't supposed to harvest them until a few weeks after the plants have died back, so at least things look all a mess on purpose. Still, we were getting impatient and pulled up a couple plants to see how they're doing. The shallots look great -- it's amazing how much one clove? segment? can generate. Not great bunching, but they're coming along! And the potatoes, oh the potatoes. More fun to dig up than I can possibly tell you. Unfortunately we used a big shovel, a trowel not being handy, and severed quite a few of them. Some are still pretty small, so a few weeks more might do well for them too, but it was extremely fulfilling to yank those out of the ground. I guess we can look forward to some sort of potato and egg dishes in the future.( I think these are the purple vikings.)


Reminders:
- Broccoli and Cabbage Transplants from Meyer Seed are great and cheap
- Get moving in March, lazy bones!
- Use a trowel for potatoes.