It's hard to identify a pest just by looking at the holes. Look at the underside of the leaves. Those little caterpillars can be hard to see. Large holes can be from grasshoppers. It's hard to catch them in the act, but they will jump out to avoid a spray of water.

Slugs, snails, earwigs, cabbage worms, cutworms, etc. Lots of possibilities but you have to monitor the plant closely to see them. Slugs and snails do this kind of damage all the time but to see them you have to go out at night with a flashlight. All the wood in your mulch is a big attractant for slugs and snails. As the plants get bigger they will usually tolerate such "appearance" type damage with no problems.

Dave

Thanks guys yeah I'll keep trying to find the culprit. Good idea to check at night. I do know we have ear wigs around in the yard so I'll keep that in mind too. Thanks again!

I had the same issue with several different plants. I purchased trichogramma wasps from Planet Natural, although many places sell them. I set them out once a week for about a month and it seems to have put an end to it. They are very very tiny, hard to even see. They burrow into the worm and soft insect bodies and are parasitic. Another option would be to buy ladybugs, but if you spray Neem Oil or anything on the plants you would have to wait a couple of weeks after the last spraying to bring in the lady bugs.

Parasitic wasps won't have any effect on snails or slugs. And Ladybugs and their larvae eat aphids which are not responsible for those holes in the foliage. The best start to tackling the culprit is night time inspection and identification. Then, if you only have a few plants, observation and hand picking could be all that it needed. If the problem doesn't get much worse plants can tolerate a bit of physical damage with little effect on cropping.

Thanks for the input Jim and Floral. I looked last night and couldn't find anything but I'll keep checking. I have seen some aphids in the past few days but from what I've read I didn't think they would do that type of damage and I've been picking them off anyway. I won't plan on doing anything more than looking until I find out what's eating it. From what I've seen elsewhere in my yard I'm thinking slugs could be most likely. If I do find any of the little buggers I'll post a pic!

I was told to put a board or piece of slate on the ground near the plants and then look under it a day or so later. If there were no slugs present it was 'less likely' that slugs were an issue in my garden. I have no idea how accurate a process this is, but just passing it along. Another thing I was told is that I could make a 'ring' of D.E. and salt around the plant or use toilet paper inserts to help shield the stem. Not gospel, just repeating what someone else told me.

Also watch for June Bugs.

If you don't find any slugs then grasshoppers is the next most likely given the appearance IMO.

Dave

I've had great success with a phosphate product called 'Sluggo.' As you say, the package says its safe of pets and does add P to the soil.