I know that caterpillars love to eat cabbages, but having a taste for rocket and radishes was new to me. The holes on the radishes started out so small, I figured they had one tiny peppery bite and then faded away. I know I would, if I were that small. Today, the holes on the rocket got to be so big that they were just stalks dotted with famished green caterpillars.

I enlisted the girls' help in wiping them out. I have heard of kids being paid 10 cents for every caterpillar. Fortunately, I realised this would make me a pauper before I made the offer. Instead they have been bundled into the bug catcher for show and tell. The kids were delighted to find hole munching caterpillars just like the one in "The Hungry Caterpillar" and Little E is looking forward to showing her teacher that caterpillars eat radishes and rocket, not just swan plants* and cabbages.

* Our largest swan plant caterpillar was last seen heading for the rose bush, where there is now a new chrysalis. Perhaps they just have a taste for the letter R.