Sunshine and dry weather have meant that there have been far fewer slug attacks upon the vegetables and flowers this year.....so far. Each time it has rained they have come out in droves to munch on lettuces and other tender crops but these wet spells have been few and far between that the slugs have soon retreated to the dank areas of boskage around the edges of the garden.
Weeds have proved troublesome this year, in particular I have been hard pressed to keep the amount of spurge to a manageable level. The attractive little plant has a sting in the tail, when plucked the stalk breaks off and releases a milky sap, if this contacts the skin a truly awful rash is the result particularly if the weather is sunny . Knowing about this plants proclivities does nothing to guard against its bite as it lurks amongst other plants and often goes unnoticed during a weeding session until the itching begins.
Of course, people tell me the answer is to wear gloves but I do not find the even these are much use unless they are waterproof ones which are jolly uncomfortable to work in. Having successfully removed a large amount of this pesky plant from amongst the mint and fennel I very clumsily tripped and sat down with a bump upon the compost pile. As a result I am writing this blog standing up, with luck the antihistamine tablets should start to work soon, in the mean time bums the word!
Note to self, never garden in just a long shirt again!
Perhaps I have not mentioned before that I have a fondness for beetles of all sorts and weevils in particular and this year has been a bumper one for these intriguing little creatures. Weevils differ from beetles in their shape and appear to have a sort of snout with antlers on the ends, they come in an amazing range of colours and sizes, I like them so much that I even have a cuddly weevil by my bed.......well by now you should know that I can be a trifle odd.
If I leave a light on in my bedroom at night and keep the window open I am visited by lots of these pretty bugs, the trouble is that other less welcome critters also turn up top the party, crane flies......yuk, spindle legged horrors whose flight is so unpredictable that they invariably end up tangled in my hair. They are a pest from start to finish as their lava attack the roots of plants overwintering in the ground, in an attempt to dig them up birds rip out the plants which have survived to munching grubs and then in July and August the little perishers hatch out and begin the whole damn business all over again. Wasps hunt oft the adult crane flies and feed them to there young, the trouble is that there are more crane-flies that there are wasps...............what am I saying...I think the-at the heat is getting to me again!
I did not feel like cooking tonight ans so we ordered pizza and I picked a big bowl of fresh salad and made some dips and a lovely orange dressing for et salad. My son placed the order and I think that tiredness got the better of him as he ordered for Pa and I a pizza the size of a dustbin lid as well as a medium sized on for himself and some garlic bread. I must say the pizza was very good. The last time we ordered pizza it was so awful that I swore never to order from that company again, this evening they excelled themselves and we all enjoyed our meal.
Twiggy is not speaking to me at the moment as I have been watering her garden, which means that she has had the resort to sitting in one of her tree houses for the most part of the afternoon. A few moments ago she stalked by with her tail up and really gave me the air, I suspect I shall be forgiven soon however as it is almost time for her dinner, catnip treat and cuddle, it must be marvellous to be so spoiled.
It has been a lovely day, beginning with a breakfast of freshly made waffles with hot jam sauce, I made masses of batter ans so I took some round for the boys next door. One of them has his son staying for a while, he seems pleasant and the more the merrier say I. They will be joining us for breakfast one day this week so that will be fun.
Finally I have a date for my hospital appointment when I hope to find out just what is the matter with my kidneys, when your Doctor tells you that your scan results were “quirky”it does not exactly fill you with joy! I still have to wait almost two weeks but what the hell I could be run over by a bus before then, and with that I shall take my leave for now, I want to see if a cool bath will ease the itching...you know where, I live in hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment