Blooming June

It has been a couple of warm days and the flowers are starting to bloom. However so are the garden pests! The lily above is one of two plants that I have and they have both been attacked by the notorious Red Lily Beetle. These critters eat at the foliage, flowers and also the unopened buds. The plants are looking in a sorry state and many of the flowers and buds have been attacked. On the other plant the snails have also been having a feast which is such a shame as these are one of my favorite flowers and I was hoping to bring some indoors.

The Red Lily Beetle at work!

There are two ways to control these pests, one is to pick off and kill the adults and eggs and the other alternative is to use an insecticide. They move quite fast and are hard to catch so I think on this occasion the use of chemicals might be needed. That is unless I can find an organic remedy.

The first flowers of the sweet peas was open today and they smell gorgeous! I planted three different varieties so I not sure (as usual) which ones they are. 

If only you could smell them...

One of the courgette plants has already produced a flower even though the plant is still quite small. The other courgette plants have grown quite a bit since I planted them out. I nearly lost one of the pumpkin plants today as whilst I was cleaning out the girls Matilda had hopped onto the raised bed as some soil was showing and she was scratching at the soil and the plant! I soon shooed her off little madame!

The summerhouse reeks of onions as this is where I have put them to dry out before I can string them up. I am going to have a rummage in a couple of the potato bags tomorrow and hopefully find some potatoes to have with Sunday lunch. The last lot  of potatoes are now flowering. I think that the potatoes are going to be my best crop so far this year. 

We have had two eggs the past two days, so we have enough for poached eggs in the morning, we have missed having eggs for breakfast. The girls have been quite destructive around the garden today, they have knocked their feeder over and the food is now all laying on the wet ground! Everything green that Octavia walks past gets attacked the onions, sweet peas, potatoes and even the rhubarb! She just runs round pecking at anything and everything like her little life depends upon it. Nothing is safe from their beaks, I was wearing shorts and both Bell and Octavia took a peck at my bare leg as they ran past.

I have added some new items to the gardening and cooking pages which may interest you. I have been adding to the pages over time but I will continue to add new items as I go along.

Well that is it for another day. Jay is cooking tonight and I'm doing dessert! Have a great weekend everyone, until next time x