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Wordless Wednesday ... happy face

April 09, 2014

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Vine weevil and the evils of ...

Well, I could be accused of being childish with blog title like that. However, before you start singing 'all creatures great and small to me', I have plenty of experience of loss to justify my abhorrence of vine weevil, otherwise known as Otiorhynchus sulcatus. In actual fact, for these little lady's (and yes, they're all female ...), who was practically unknown here 30 years ago, there is a lot of information published on them. So rather than ranting about my own experiences and wailing about my losses, I've decided to do some research on them, which I've shared with you below. I've covered their life cycle, some information about their adult and larvae forms, and of course, what to do. While most of the information has been quoted from other sites, the pictures of vine weevil, unfortunately, are my own. Enjoy ... Vine weevil is an insect that can infest a wide range of ornamental plants and fruits, especially those grown in containers. Adult vine

Tying up March

And on we go into March, and boy oh boy what a start we are having! Temperatures are low, sunshine levels are low, and we've even had some snow as winter still maintains a firm grip on this early part of spring... we have yet to see spring wrestle back control and impose its milder temperatures, better quality sunshine and less of those brisk winds we've been having... a social media post I saw the other day reminds us that it was this time of the year the beast from the east snow storm came to visit (storm Emma), so maybe we should be grateful things are not that bad... Lol! In the courtyard area at the weekend, the main task after the day of snow on March 1st, was tie back up the Narcissus bulbs in pots, which had bowed down with the weight and winds. For this I used some of our trusty raffia and a short canes that were to hand. What is this raffia I hear you ask? Well apparently it is a natural fibre from a tropical plan, and used in the textile industry for h

Repotting Wisteria in spring

As you may know, if you follow my blog, I've been busy repotting plants in preparation for the year ahead. One of these, is a very neglected looking Wisteria, which provides amazing mid spring colour. So the opportunity arose to repot it today. It's a simple process really. Remove it from its old pot and place it into a bucked to soak (the rootball was dry-ish). Next step is to get a suitable size pot, in this case I had a nice glazed container, and use some old cookery at the base for drainage. I teased way some of the old compost, removed any weeds & their roots ... ... and repot it using my soil mix, which is primarily good sieved (apparently sterile) topsoil, some well rotted manure and about 20% bought compost & grit. Next step is to firm the plant in place and provide water. In this case I included a touch of early spring colour in the guise of some Muscari I had. Et viola ... Looking forwa

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Wordless Wednesday ... happy face

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