I've always heard that Bt is the solution. Or kittens (they chase the moths and eat them) You can also do "minister of death" patrol and squash the little yellow eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Planting very early helps too -- since kole crops are frost hardy, you can plant early (I sometimes plant seedlings the first week of April in Zone 5, and cover with some AG fleece until things warm up a little). Probably too late to start seedlings from seed now for a really early start, but maybe you can find seedlings to buy at the end of March (I sometimes drive to a slightly warmer area--as in south or lower elevation-- to get seedlings as early as I want them) If you use netting, obviously it has to be very small openings, and no gaps. Those moths will find any little slit to get through -- I've watched them! I've been known to go running around my yard with a butterfly net catching the moths. I don't recommend this, as more moths just fly in, and it looks very silly. Good luck-- I hope it works for you this year! Elisa

Mealy bugs can be gotten rid of by touching them with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. You have to do it every other day until the problem is gone, because the alcohol only kills the live bugs and not the eggs. So you keep on doing it until you get the ones which have newly hatched. To keep flying bugs away from indoor plants, stick a garlic clove or two into each pot. When the garlic gets too high, snip it off and use it in a salad.

Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn

Horribly windy day . . . I was just reading over this thread and thinking. Earlier, I was looking at some seedling pictures, too. ~ sob ~ Will spring ever come?? First of all, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the orach is doing! A mother plant is always left in some corner to go to seed. Last year, Mother was right beside the compost pile - I may be sorry for having picked that location! The spinach that will come later in the season just isn't all that much more tender and tasty than the orach. I'm real happy that it is there every spring! The dandelions and lawn violets will be along soon. Snapdragons will reseed but last year's plants can't survive our winters unless they are right up against the house . . . someone's house. Mine is too shady after the tree to the south leafs-out. I do look forward to growing spuds each year, now that I've gotten back into that! Every year, I have to hold my breath hoping the potato bugs don't find them. I think it may be because there are so few gardens around in that location. Little disturbed soil so there are few nightshade weeds, also. Out in the bigger garden with the cultivated farmland around it - the ease in which I've grown the potatoes the last few years would probably be lost. But you know tomatoes . . . ?! Those were in the pictures I was just looking at. I complain about tomatoes every year. Seed is sown 8 or 10 weeks before they are set out. So, I've got another 2 months of growing them than any of the other crops, except peppers (& snapdragons ;o). I've got to get them thru the leaf stage, flower stage, fruit stage, right up until they are really at the "seed stage!" After all, a sun-ripened tomato is really what is intended. The seeds inside are fully mature by then, or nearly so. (You can't image the level of frustration when I've taken care of a plant thru all the months and have 1 or ZERO ripe fruits at the end of the season!! Maybe you can.) However, I always have lots of tomatoes by September. Sometimes, I have the early cherries by the 1st week of August! Some varieties have never failed me . . . I am really looking forward to starting some seeds. Steve