The very hungry caterpillars

Hello there, well that thunder and rain we were warned about didn't happen here. We just got a couple of mizzly mornings and today has been a tropical blaze again. 

 

 [ Morning mizzle over Penryn River]

I hadn't yet finished my Saturday morning cuppa, when the kids ventured out brandishing scissors (o-oh!), playing a 'let's go to the garden centre' game. This kicked me into action, as I wanted some flowers for my mam and already they had started to dead head the best blooms.

 

 

 

I ran out and picked all the best ones before they could! They each cut and arranged a jar for Monsieur, upstairs still in bed. I said they could have the pick of the Californian Poppies, Calendula and Sweet Peas.

 

One thing all this heat and humidity has brought us this week... the dreaded tomato blight. This is absolutely the last time I try tomotoes outdoors! The ones inside the greenhouse are doing fine, fingers crossed. Here you can see the blight on the stem and leaves, but can you spot any other pesks lurking?

Well done if you spotted the pesky Cabbage White Caterpillars. My young broccoli plants have been netted to stop the white butterflies laying eggs on the underside, but, as it turns out...Cabbage Whites also love Nasturtiums and I have a whole unruly patch too close to my veg patch.  

One to two weeks it takes, from the moment the female lays the eggs to the caterpillars emerging and going on a thirty day feeding frenzy. The diagram above is now stuck up in my kitchen, not because I love doodling all over the cupboards, but because it is exactly one month before I sit my next round of RHS exams... and this time it includes knowing the life cycles of six plant pests. Any information displayed near the kettle strangely gets committed to memory.

 

Do you think I'll get extra marks in my exam if I draw crazy eyes and smiling faces on my caterpillars? Incidentally, the above diagram does not show the Lulu interception phase, where all the caterpillars get picked off and placed on a deep plate on top of the playhouse as a sacrificial offering to the birds. Did the birds eat them or did they wiggle away? I suppose we'll never know.

 

[Sweet Peas on hazel wig wam (Lathyrus odoratus 'Mamouth') ]

 

Anyhow, aside from this, everything else seems to be growing nicely. After our morning flower picking, we collected some tomatoes, courgette and cucumber and had a lovely lunch. (Looks a bit healthy doesn't it! Don't worry, we corrected things at tea time by having pizza & beer!)

 

[Tomatoes (Gardner's Delight), Courgetti (Green Bush) and outdoor grown cucumber (Burpless Tasty Green)]

[Eschscholzia californica]

 

I am pleased I got another colour coordinated wash and peg dry in today. Monsieur marveled at the arrangement. I said "get with it", this is a washing game I have been playing for quite some time!

 

[Wicker Lobster pot and washing line]

If it is 'working weather' tomorrow, all my bushes are getting a trim. If it gets too hot again, I am simply going to go and lie in the hedgerow, where it is always cool and shady.

Take care, see you soon,

Lulu x

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