Help, my cabbages have got .... earth-worms?

Question

I have tried to grow different, head-forming cabbages in the last couple of years in my allotment (this is in London, UK), and while they grow well enough, I have some unusual problems; or at least I haven't seen them before. They are not infested with butterfly larvae or any of the usual things, but when I harvest them, they are full of slugs and earth-worms inside. I didn't think of taking pictures, but I have been finding small earth-worms between the tightly packed leaves.

I am wondering if it is because I have added a lot of well-rotted horse-manure and compost; the worms definitely like that, but I'd rather they stayed away from my cabbages. Any ideas about what to do about this? I'm not in favour of using pesticides.

Answer 1

Both slugs and worms like well rotted composts, particularly if its damp - the only thing you can do is to reduce their activity so they can't so easily get inside your cabbages. You can try covering the compost with boards or even anchored down weed control fabric to keep the worms in the soil and off the cabbage. There are other methods described in the link below for slugs; although most of them are aimed at stopping slugs eating the crop, they will still work to deter slugs from getting into the cabbage heads: How to Keep Slugs Off Cabbage and Other Cole Crops.