Robot

Overrun by blue flowers

Hang on a minute - hold your horses - I want a steward's enquiry.....

We woz all misled with the "blue".  Now it turns out it's "green". 

I want my bet back

Isn't a thankyou in order?

Hi Insomnia.  You said some nice things and I agree with you.  I doubt there's a person anywhere who knows everything about something, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who know a little about a lot of things and then some who know quite a lot about a few things. 

Then, there are some who are just plain bonkers - like me.....

What is this?

I think I can safely say without fear of contraception that it is the pupae of the Noctuid Moth.  I call the catterpillars cut worms or b***ards - depending what mood I'm in.  When you go out in the garden and see something has cut the stems of your plants like a pair of scissors, then that's the fella responsible.

I could be wrong and I'll put my hands up if I am.  It is a very large species and the moth could be anything of numerous patterns or colours and then it will take it's chances with the bats.

I was trying to give you a link to lots of photos but for some reason the system is malfunctioning.  Just Google Noctuid Moth Images and you should get some good pictures.

July in the garden!!

I do believe I would cut my finger on the edge of your lawn, Lilylouise, it's so crisp. Très magnifique.

Sadly, we don't have a lawn.  We just have tufts of green stuff and weeds with intermittent brown patches and sink holes. 

Isn't a thankyou in order?

Lots of people have reported the error, Gary, and admin had promised to look into it - LAST WEEK ! 

Someone - and apologies for forgetting who - told us the way to see all posts you have contributed to by doing the following. 

Log in and go to your Welcome page and scroll down to Forum Settings.  Scroll down to Forum Notifications and you will see a list of the topics you have contributed to. 

Hollie-Hock also suggested a scrapbook - an excellent idea - and I shared what I do to keep track of topics I've participated in - here...

http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/site-feedback/scrapbook/4265.html

Peppers & Margarites - the same malady?

Janice, I've been doing a bit of an experiment by holding back on the water and feed for the peppers and they seem to be looking better.  I certainly haven't lost any more.  I read that they don't particularly like to be over watered or fed so perhaps the tomato feed I gave them - and your grow bag - are a bit too rich for them. Mine are producing their little fruits now so fingers crossed.

The Marguerites still look the same but they are growing and producing flower buds so I've left them alone. 

Like you, we love peppers and I try to grow as many as I can as they freeze so well - no blanching and faffing about. 

Isn't a thankyou in order?

I doubt you would upset anyone, Lazy Gardener.  Your opinion is just as important as anyone else's.  Personally I don't mind not having a thank you - and I hope I say thank you to anyone to gives me advice - but what irritates me is when someone asks a question and myself and many more reply, then there's no further imput from the questioner and the thread just fizzles out.  It has happened in threads I have contributed to and to others which I've just read.  I often wonder why that happens. 

Another gripe is that I don't seem to get emails to notify me when a thread has been replied to.  It says in the blurb that you don't get notification emails unless you log into the forum.  But, sometimes - in fact daily - I come to the forum without logging in just to read what's what.  I only log in when I want to ask a question or respond to one.  It means that sometimes I miss someones comment - as I have noticed this morning - and then that makes me feel bad at not keeping up with the conversation.

I know we all don't like receiving shed loads of emails every day, but perhaps the system could be tweaked so that we get notification emails for ALL the threads we participate in.  Eventually the older ones cease naturally so that would reflect on the number of emails we get.  Who knows?  Not me, that's for sure.....

Great Diving Beetle

No problem.  I hope you can catch the day when the dragonfly emerges.  It takes some time so there'll be time to grab the camera.  When our children were young they would often be late for school as they would spot a larvae emerging early in the morning and we would all sit around the pond and watch it - ignoring the school bus.  Happy days.

slugs & beer traps

They might be nice in a stir fry  

Seriously though, I am lucky not to have much of a slug problem except in the Hosta bed so I had this (photo below) which was left from when we had chickens and it's brilliant as I can sink it into the ground to the level of the opening and fill with beer and with the top on the dog doesn't get it and the rain doesn't dilute it and you can just lift the lid and dispose of the contents when you want. 

 It is roughly 15cm across by 23cm high and made of plastic.

midges

We used to live in Argyll (Tighnabruaich) and I'm sure  the mother of all midges lives  there.  The only thing which gave us some relief when we wanted to be outside was Avon's Skin-so-Soft oil.  The midges still landed but they didn't bite. All the men who worked outside used it. 

After several years of the dreaded things we'd had enough and left.  I really do miss Scotland, but the thought of the midges keeps me focused.  Where we live now has mountains, lakes and bracken - but no midges.  Heaven....

The people who bought our house use midge machines - one at the front and one at the back.  They attract the midges and leave the house and its occupants alone.  I believe they paid quite a bit for the machines but they work.

No Ladybirds

They are at it again - more flipping bird food....

Peppers & Margarites - the same malady?

First Day Out

What is this little bird please?

Will anything benefit from these old pipes?

Should my bargain do this?

Is it wild phlox?

Page numbers not working in My Posts

Sh**s Sorrel

Gloxinia

Clematis Montana killed during winter