Bug Off!

See this lovely Betula pendula (Silver Birch)? This is planted in my front garden on the other side of a 6ft long, 3ft high fence panel. All summer, we have been parking the car beneath it and it has been covered in sap, or so S keeps telling me. I don’t know why I didn’t suspect otherwise when we had crowds of wasps and flies all over the car; wasps and flies that were so enamoured by the “sap” that they stayed on the car even while it was moving! S has been most annoyed and vowed that the tree was coming down. I was upset because this was a seedling that I planted while I was pregnant with the twins.

To be honest, I don’t do much in the front garden. I love my privacy and always feel exposed when I work out the front. This year we ripped out all the plants, paved the grass, tore down the old fence and put in this new one. There was a lilac hedge across the front that I planted years ago from cuttings but it was spindly and gave little privacy. I’ve now planted privet that I’m hoping will fill out to make a nice neat hedge.

Back to the silver birch. Not spending much time in the front garden, I hadn’t noticed what had been happening but having the new car and being careful about parking it, I’d stepped back to see if it was in the front garden far enough to stop scratches (the vectra was covered in scratches and dents within a few months. Mainly from bike handles etc. I was not happy but could never find the culprit).

When I stood back I noticed all of this black stuff on the fence post.
Which spread along the fence…

On closer inspection (it doesn’t really show without zooming) but those are some sort of aphid. I think they call them black bean aphids (?), whatever they are called, there are millions of them. That go all the way up the tree! No wonder the car was covered in sticky stuff – it’s honeydew!

Now my problem is what to do about them. It’s recommended to wash them off. This is fine for the first 8 ft or so of the tree but it’s huge! It must be 20 ft tall! How am I going to wash that lot? I’m now thinking of blasting the fence and the trunk of the tree and then making insect houses to encourage beneficial predators such as ladybirds and lacewings. A quick search on the internet has led to the discovery that you can buy the larvae! I don’t think I’ll do it now because winter is about to start and we’re promised a hard one this year but I think I’ll be ordering some come spring.

Come on, focus!

Here it is, the new car. S is over the moon with it, the kids love it and I like the fact that it’s going to be cheap!

Those of you with good observational skills will have noticed that the photo was taken tomorrow; this is because I altered the post date so that it doesn’t throw out the blog

Out ‘n’ About

Today started miserably with the heavens opening and letting out that rain that hits the ground twice. We’ d planned to go out to look at some discus for the old Oscar tank so we got our shoes and coats and headed off to Bridgemere Garden Centre. There, as well as the fish (see other blog) I bought a few garden plants; I could have spent a fortune! I bought the plants that grab your eye as soon as you walk in. I looked at the fruit bushes too. There was a gooseberry there called “Hinnonmaki Red” at £7.99 but it had sold out. There is one on EBay but it’s a£5.99 plus £3.99 p&p so I have made an offer of £4.50 which will still more expensive than that from Bridgemere. Fingers crossed eh? I also placed a bid on the “Leveller” variety off the same seller – I bet I don’t get reduced P&P if I win… While I was on EBay I looked for some garlic and purchased 6 “Germidour”Garlic bulbs for £3.98, 2 Asparagus”Purple Pacific”plants for £1.99 , 2 Asparagus”Gijnlim” for £1.99, which I’m waiting for the p&p price for and 3 Asparagus ‘Connovers Colossal’ that ended at £6.00 inc p&p. I’ve never tried Asparagus but have wanted to try it and can always find an area of the garden to put it.

I looked at the allotments on the council site recently. The site lists the locations but states in cold writing that there is a two year waiting list. S suggested we go and look at them this afternoon. The first we went to looked overgrown. There were 5 sheds and looked to be 5 lots. 2 of the plots looked as if someone had been there; the others didn’t. They were overgrown, full of weeds, old blocks etc, the sheds run down or as the case for one of them, fell down! According to the council, there are 12 lots there (and a 2 year waiting list?).The second one we went to was a different story. Well kept plots with friendly people – in fact it was hard to get away! They advised us to go and register on the waiting list though one of them had waited 3 years for her plot. I can’t understand why really. At this site were 2 plots that had anyone go to for over a year according to those there, so why can’t we have one of those? What about the first location that was run down? I’m ringing up the council tomorrow to see about having one! S is now quite keen to have one so it might be just the thing, if not it’s somewhere to escape.

New car planned

Yep, we’re having a new car. Not a brand new car but new to us. It’s a burgundy (?) 2003 Ford Focus 1.8 LX Tdci; not my type of car to be honest – it was parked next to my type; an 03 BMW M3 convertable… – but still it’s diesel so we should at least double our fuel economy (full tank in old BMW that I’m currently driving costs just under £40 and did around 230 miles and the Vectra wasn’t much better) it’s quiet, comfortable, the dog will fit in it, the car dealer is having a towbar fitted after my comment of not having one and it should – according to dealer – pull a caravan; I wanted the towbar for the trailer but pulling the caravan is a bonus! We could have taken it tomorrow but because I want the towbar fitted, it will be Monday evening. The dealer is having the van that we bought off Ebay (well were conned on Ebay to be fair) and my Veccy. It will be sad to see the Veccy go. It’s been through a lot with us over the past 4 and a half years. It’s the longest we’ve had a car. As I said before, it’s never let us down and had no money spent on it apart from tyres. Bye Veccy…

PS – S started smoking again tonight

Under the boardwalk

I don’t know where S’s head has been for the past few months! I’ve been saying for ages that I want scaffolding boards for these raised beds and was planning on ringing around companies to see if they sell old boards. In the end finance dictated that I leave it for this year. Then last night we were watching Gardeners World and Monty Don was planting strawberries in his bed. S – who doesn’t normally watch gardening but was in a good mood due to the new car – said that he didn’t know why he never thought about it before as he can ask the bloke at work! S fits windows but not domestic windows; he does things like curtain walls etc. To be honest I didn’t think he had scaffolding because most of the jobs are huge! Anyway, he went in to work this morning, asked and Scaff-man said to remind him next Thursday and he’ll bring 12 boards (for 4 8X4 beds) in to site next Saturday. I’ll have raised beds! Well actually I wont because I have disposed of most of the topsoil, but I’ll make them and gradually top it up… not sure if that’s going to work due to shading etc. Another problem is that I’ve levelled the soil to the path that S and his brother-in-law put down which is far from level. Oh well, cross that bridge at the time eh? Here’s to my forthcoming boards and Mr Scaff-man. Hip-hip, hooray!

Evil ‘kin weevil

I’ve found vine weevil grubs in my pots! I’m gutted. They were recently named number one pest by RHS This is a leaflet from DEFRA that tells you a little bit about these nasty pests. I’ve got most of the compost off the plant that had the weevil grubs in and then I’ve washed the remainder of soil off and repotted it but I’m wondering if it’s worth it. I have lots of potted plants in my garden, even an apple tree, and I didn’t really want to empty, check and repot each one. I doubt I’d get all the eggs either. I know that there is a biological control for them now and a compost too but wont it all be a losing battle? There are too many enemies in this war! I now have slugs and snails by the thousand, lily beetle and vine weevil as well as the normal pests and diseases. Oh well back to the fight. I’m going to bag up the compst I’ve taken out of the pot before I put it in the dustbin. Then I’m going to find a big garden bag and start emptying pots…

This is what one of the fuschias looked like when I was finished

The grass is always greener – when you buy the right type!

After our walk to the shops I had visitors which was lovely as I hadn’t seen J since she had her new Honda car. I still managed to get something done in the garden later. The weather was good again, sunny but starting to cool. A bit late though; I remember October being cold, wet, and dark…

Today I broke up all of the old compost bins ready to burn. They were rotten and full of woodworm and woodlice – the chickens like woodlice! After buying lots of half price grass seed earlier I went to sow some at the top end of the garden. The kids helped to spread a layer of excess border soil on the existing lawn – ahem, a little grandiose for the patchy green and brown area – and I went to get the box of “seed to produce a fine lawn in shady areas” only I hadn’t bought that one because I’d picked the wrong box up in the shop. Instead I got “seed to produce a fine lawn” which will probably look great for a month or two but wont last. I’ve sown it anyway.

This evening I had a garden fire in the incinerator. It took until 10pm but I managed to burn all of the old compost bins and other bits and pieces from around the garden. In between topping up the bin, I went in the greenhouse. I don’t think the heater is working in there. It turns on if I turn up the dial but I don’t think it’s coming on automatically. Just in case, I lit the paraffin heater. I then potted up the comfrey I bought off EBay. I’ve used an old plastic paint tub in an effort to recycle things as much as possible. When the weather warms up I will find a way of decorating them. In the greenhouse I also emptied the summer hanging baskets and potted up any of the plants that showed signs of life. I’ve got orange and white millions bells, some fuchsias, impatiens, a geranium and a helichrysum. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take cutting off them next year but it’s worth trying. There are a few more to do tomorrow but I’m tired and smell of bonfires. Everyone else has been in bed at least half hour so I’m going to have a shower and go up happy that for the first time since I started all of this, my dirty nails are because I’ve finally been planting!

Free burger and chips!

I got a bargain today. K, J and I walked (S had the car) to Wilkinsons to buy some grass seed. I bought 2kg at £2.39/Kg. When I got to the checkout the young girl asked me to wait because she thought it was half price. Seeing the annoyed faces in the queue behind me I said that it wasn’t but she insisted that she call the supervisor so that she would know for future customers and she was right! The extra £2 went on a treat of burger and chips for K&J so I didn’t save much but had cheap grass seed and happy kids!

chickens

Another busy week.

Today we had 4 more additions to the hen house. These were purchased from Warwickshire Rare Breed Farm. We’ve had two Suffolk Noir’s, one Mendalsham Blue and one Fenning Sussex. The other birds hate them already! Improved the henhouse by sealing all gaps we could find with expanding foam and covering the roof with plastic to stop leaks.

Kids off school tomorrow and all next week. Typically according to yahoo, it’s going to rain on monday. It’s too early to say if it will be raining all week yet. It means I have mountains to do before then! I want to move the soil from the veg area to the kids area as there is too much. I want to mark and mulch the paths. I want to…. (edit: I’m going through old posts. Obviously I want to…. finish this one!)

Veccy died :(

I could cry; my Vecra is broke It seems like the engine has gone. I can’t believe it! 4 years we’ve had that car (the photo above was taken today). We only finished the finance a few months ago. Apart from the finance – which was ridiculous – we’ve hardly spent any money on it, it’s never let us down, it flew through the MOT last week and S has only had it a week and now it’s broke!