I dug one up a couple of years ago, and the little blighter disappeared up my trouser leg. The more I jiggled about trying to shake it out the further upwards it went. In the end I had to drop my trousers to get it out. Good job it is an isolated spot. It might have caused comment elsewhere.
Garden is finally looking pretty good. Most things growing well although for some reason the broad bean seeds I sowed have mostly failed germinate - sowed some more yesterday. Not sure why as neither me nor J like them One great job I got done yesterday though was to clear the pond. It had become very overgrown so I have cut a lot back and removed a fair bit of blanket weed - the sticky bob of the pond. Perhaps I should call it stinky bill.
I bought half a dozen cabbage plants just before I went to the UK as I wasn't going to be around to look after seedlings. They were put into a piece of well prepared ground, and covered with my anti-butterfly structure. They are growing really well, lovely sturdy plants. One problem though, they aren't cabbages. Don't think they are Brussels, could be broccoli, but I really don't know. Think I will just have to wait and see.
I am getting fed up with watering my garden and I live in Scotland! My neighbours have gone on holiday and I have to water theirs as well......
Found Mme head down in a plant this afternoon. She had just noticed that the Lily Beetle had started to attack her prize lily. It is a real problem, as it can fall off the plant even if it just sees you approaching, lay on its back, and be very difficult to see then. Looking for information on the internet there seems to be no biological treatment. There are chemicals that will kill it off, but they can be just as harmful to bees. The best info seems to be put some white material or kitchen towel beneath your plant so if they fall off you can see them, then search up the stems, then on top and underneath the leaves. Anyone know something different?
If you drink filter coffee Frenchie you can place the coffee dregs around the base of the plant. This is also a form of fertilizer, but tends to turn the soil a bit sour. Many parasites hate this - in fact it also offers a limited protection against voles. The other thing you can try is spraying the plant with a liquid manure made from stinging nettles (unfortunately it takes about ten days to produce this at home which is probably too long), but a neighbour may have some ready - it needs to be diluted for spraying to about 1:30.
Mrs H made the stuff from nettles a couple of years ago. I'm not surprised it deterred wildlife...it was one of the most obnoxious mixtures I have ever got within an arm's length of! She offered later to make nettle soup...an Anglo-Saxon delicacy. In the interests of research for my books I gave it a try but I shan't be rushing to try it again!
Slugs and snails do not like coffee dregs, but she has her prize lily in a pot and the soil in there would soon sour. There is something that I have read about called BioNeem which seems to work, but I cannot find out if it is available in France, or even what it might be called here.
My neighbour Bernard tells me that nettle soup is lovely. He also is a great lover of wild mushrooms. The weather that we have had recently has created many different types. I bought a book on wild mushrooms, but feel very unsure about which ones are safe without getting his opinion.
I do not know if it applies to the UK, but it is quite clear that we have a lot more bees about than we had over the past few years. Great news, but I wonder if the population has started to recover since there was a ban on certain forms of pesticides.
We grow some most years. It springs up where the bird seed we have falls to the ground and self seeds. As I am not a qualified botanist though if questioned by the police I would have to say I thought it was a strange rhubarb plant (sorry, couldn't think of another comparison)
I was in a garden centre on Saturday and noticed that such things as "Roundup" are under lock and key. If you want some you now have to get an assistant to come and sell you a small quantity. It has been replaced on the shelves with something described as a natural or Bio weed killer. I didn't have my reading glasses with me to see what it is composed of, but it shows that harmful products can be replaced.
Mrs L is interested in trying some microorganisms - nemotodes I think they are called this year. We have had a lot of blackfly but I spray them with an old fashioned remedy my dad used to use - washing up water.
