I KNEW it! I knew I would jinx myself by mentioning my lack of cabbage worms. They’ve struck:

Gardening peeps: are all those dark spots eggs or cabbage worm poop?  Oh man, I hope they’re not eggs. They also did a number on my lacinato kale, which is right next to the cabbage:

Here’s one of the guilty culprits, shortly before his execution:

Trouble is, I can’t spray my cabbage with garlic spray right now because it’s so darn rainy. And it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow too.  We carefully inspected our cabbages (top and bottom of every leaf), and found and killed three large worms today.  Hopefully the damage will be minimal until Friday when it’s supposed to dry up. Then I can get in there with the garlic spray and do some deterrent work.

Speaking of cabbage damage, here’s a picture from the Hennepin County Master Gardener plot at Sabathani that I help manage:

We planted three different kinds of cabbage: green, red, and napa cabbage (along with some dill). The circles are where the green cabbages are supposed to be.  I think this is the work of a larger varmint, because they were just decimated.  Two of them are trying to make a comeback, but we’ll see.  This is the best illustration I can think of for planting variety.  Whatever this was, it was uninterested in the napa and only slightly interested in the red cabbage.  Therefore, our crop was diminished but not devastated.