18-05-2014, 09:19 PM
71
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
Just when I was feeling pleased that I was actually going to have some gooseberries on my one bush this year I notice the sawfly caterpillars have arrived and are busy stripping all the leaves
I spent ages this afternoon with a pair of tweezers picking them off not an easy task because they are the same colour as the leaves and blend in so well.
18-05-2014, 11:34 PM
72
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
Originally Posted by Janela
->
Wal has just said he read an article about red lily beetle today - boil up a garlic and add washing up liquid 
So garlic wasn't a bad idea after all
Going to have a lovely smelly garden
Funny you should say that Janela, I use Garlic with baby shampoo, and yes, it does pong, but the smell wears off after a while.
Ages ago I read somewhere about the baby shampoo having more beneficial ingredients than washing up liquid, but can't remember all the details properly now.
20-05-2014, 04:27 PM
73
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
We have a cheap shop like a £pound shop a couple of miles away and I'm going to buy baby shampoo from them when we get there (probably next week), thanks Mups.
Sorry to hear about the gooseberry bush Meg!
We found an infestation of blackfly? on our blackberry bush, looked disgusting, it had shrivelled all the leaves, no signs of fruit or a decent leaf, so Wal gave it the 'chelsea chop' this morning.
I hope it pulls through. (fingers crossed emoticon needed
)
04-06-2014, 04:01 PM
74
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
My two gooseberry bushes are laden with fruit ( one was supposed to be red berries - they are both green ) I even took two cuttings from the 'red' one to give to my daughter and dil - I don't think they'll want them The new strawberries we planted Malling Centenary, which is a new variety, have lovely big conical fruit and are ripening
My one dismal failure - kale
Planted a dozen and have one left! They were planted next to the old strawberries and in between the gooseberries - everything covered in netting, so it wasn't birds
must have been slugs or snails
08-06-2014, 07:43 PM
75
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
We had our first new spuds from the garden today, and very nice they were too.My gooseberries are laden with fruit as well Jan and virtually ready to pick, and the loganberries, blackberries and blackcurrants are looking right off the scale for quantity, in fact I've a feeling that I'm going to run out of people to give fruit away to this year even after I've filled the freezers....
08-06-2014, 07:49 PM
76
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
Originally Posted by plantman
->
We had our first new spuds from the garden today, and very nice they were too. My gooseberries are laden with fruit as well Jan and virtually ready to pick, and the loganberries, blackberries and blackcurrants are looking right off the scale for quantity, in fact I've a feeling that I'm going to run out of people to give fruit away to this year even after I've filled the freezers....
09-06-2014, 11:56 AM
77
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
There seems to be a plague of blackfly this year and not many ladybirds about - the ants are vigorously farming themI found two harlequin and disposed of them
I picked a large gooseberry but it was quite bitter still .. not sure how long it will be.
The blackcurrent bush is surviving after Wal gave it a chop, it was badly infested but I'm glad to see it shooting, must remember to spray it early next year!
The Malling strawberry had five ripe fruits, so I picked them this morning, they will be eaten later - looking forward to them, I understand it is the choice of variety for Wimbledon this year
11-06-2014, 05:10 PM
78
Re: The Gardening Year 2014
We ate our Malling strawberries last night, along with a dozen from the old plants. There was no comparison, the Malling was dark, shiny and a lovely flavor, I highly recommend them. We will be potting up the runners and phasing out the old ones, that we'll use for jam.|
|
