What a glorious month

What a lovely month this is for the garden showing you what it can do with or without help. The redcurrant bush (that I did not plant!) has an abundance of fruit this year which the birds are loving. I am not a keen cook and I know it is a shame to not use the fruit but if the birds are benefitting then that is ok by me.

I am delighted with my sweet peas! It is the first time that I have grown them all by myself from seed and the results are fantastic. If you could just smell them the picture would be even better! My favourite flower/plant fragrances include sweet peas, lavendar, honeysuckle, jasmine and anything with a citrus/lemony smell e.g. lemon balm, lemon verbena.

The foxgloves in the shady corner at the front of the house are all doing nicely too, the seed themselves and just get on with it.

Well it has been a glorious month weather wise even though it has created twice as much work in the garden what with watering up to twice a day and checking everything is still alive. Caterpillar watch has also started especially on the Kale and I have even noticed a couple of Harlequin ladybirds lurking around on the Globe Artichokes.

I read on Celia's blog, Purple podded peas, http://http//purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.com/ about the national survey that is monitoring these ladybirds as they are an alien species that attack our native ladybirds and will be forwarding my photos to their website to inform them.http://http//www.harlequin-survey.org/default.htm

Another problem I have had this year that I have not experienced before is leaf miner especially in my Swiss Chard and Spinach. It starts off as small patches on the leaves and gradually the patches spread and the leaves start to become transparent. This is caused by a small fly that lays its eggs on the underside of the leaves and the small larvae that hatch then eat the inner part of the leaf leaving only the upper and lower surfaces leaving nothing inbetween except the grubs - yuk. You can treat it chemically, which I am loathe to do, so instead I have been picking off affected leaves as soon as I spot them. So far this has helped as it then encourages more growth at the bottom of the plants and produces young tender leaves.
http://http//www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advice/pests_and_diseases/nonflash_index.shtml?leaf_miner_flies

Happy gardening everyone!