rosa rugosa

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

i can definitively say that dishwashing liquid in a water butt, a lot of it, does not kill mosquito larvae.  i suppose you would not put a lid on the water butt if you kept a goldfish in it.  but i wonder how happy it would be?  well, why not, if you make it cosy!  but i will try the oil next.  thanks for all the tips!  

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

yes that's what i fear too, but i'll try it.  don't really want to expose myself and kids to insecticide unnecessarily, so that will be my last option.  what about dishwashing liquid?  a teaspoon in a small sprayer definitely kills aphids.  i wonder if it would work on mossie larvae?  

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

thanks all, for the useful advice.  i will try the oil first.  we have mega mossies here.  they have such an itchy bite, or maybe it's just how i react to them.  the itch lasts for weeks.  the fish idea is cute too!   i'd have to leave the lid off though, and then you get all the algae and stuff.......  we did have some goldfish in the pond, and  i never saw a mossie larva there.  we have lots of dragon fly nymphs, and i think they do the job too.    

about snails - i used ferrous-based slug pellets around all the plants that are particularly precious to me, at least until they are large enough to take a bit of snail pruning.  and now i go around every evening, and spear the slugs with sharp sticks, which i then chuck in the compost.  i never used to be so merciless until i got my first lupins and clematis!  

Coverage of Hampton Court Flower Show

what's wonderful is when the city councils start to incorporate more insect-friendly plants into the minicipal parks and gardens.  we should all lobby our local councils to move away from "plastic" plants to a more natural way of gardening, and not wait for the RHS to take the lead.  

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

thanks for the quick reply!  how much cooking oil do you put in?  mine is a 200 litre butt, and quite wide at the top.  do you need to have a film of oil completely covering the surface, or just enough to have some slicks floating around?  

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

I think the lid is perhaps not tight-fitting enough to keep out the egg-laying females.  any suggestions on how i can kill the larvae?  I need to be able to use the water for plants.   i have to scoop water out from the top, as the butt is set too low to allow a tap in the bottom.  i've read that a layer of oil or soap on the top would prevent the larvae from breathing, but i don't think that will be too good for my plants.  

perrenial foxgloves?

thanks, that's useful!  i thought if really were perrenial then i'd have to move it away from a shrub which is growing ever larger (and which i need for a screen against passers-by.  but i think i may leave it, and prune the shrub a bit more, since it will probably not last out the end of this season anyway. it did survive last winter though, and it was a really cold one!  i will try to propagate it from seed too.  

perrenial foxgloves?

i thought they are biennial.  i have alot of small self-seeded foxgloves in the garden, which are biennial.  then i bought a large and beautiful one from a garden centre, from the perrenial plants section.  i think that in switzerland, where i'm living now, anything which survives for more than one year is considered perrenial.  or could this be?  

help with tomatoes please.

does the advice about pinching out side shoots hold for cherry tomatoes too?  

Why Miss Bateman?

thanks for the advice.  i think that when my two large-flowered clematis finally give up the ghost (and i do spend so much time and effort keeping them going!), i will try a viticella.  i have a montana rubens, which i love, but even that is hammered by snails, slugs and earwigs.  it seems to be doing a bit better this year, since i've been so vigilant!   i'll try it with a viticella, will give the bugs some choice, and they might be a little distracted from the montana.

i bought an evergreen clematis - "early sensation", and it's supposed to be hardy.  does anyone know how hardy they are?  it's in a large pot, so would it be better to bring it in over winter?  

rouge cardinal is almost red - i think it has a touch of pink.  it's also later flowering, and the only one of my clematis that is fairly robust.  

Breeding slugs in my compost

pruning lavender

mosquitos breeding in the rainwater butt

perrenial foxgloves?

White broom/cytisus albus dying