I understand William Hill are taking bets on whether or not this bloomin’ hedge of mine will survive. It certainly don’t look good – even worse than before, if that’s even possible. To recap, about a month ago, my gorgeous, 14 year-old hedge looked like this: with its cute little baby sister next to it,…
Category: pests
WAR! HUH! What is it good for? Exterminating Caterpillars!
Okay, I went away. I went to the West Country for FOUR DAYS. When I got back, my lovely box hedges had turned from this: had turned into this: Seriously – FOUR BLOOMIN’ DAYS! Just look at these two: At first I thought it was blight but then I recognised the nasty, lacy, cobwebby skeletons…
Squirrelled Away
Don’t get me wrong – I like to see a fluffy-tailed Tufty scampering about the grass as much as the next Event Gardener, but sometimes that’s not very much. In the summer the bunch in my garden seem to delight in smashing my favourite pots, uprooting box-cuttings and replacing tulip bulbs with monkey nuts. In…
The Leeks of Doom
At first I didn’t realise there was anything wrong. I mean – look at this – looks fine, yeah? Okay, so it wasn’t going to win any prizes but it looked at least supper-worthy. Looks can deceive, however. I started noticing strange, wiggly-looking leaves but still I wasn’t too worried. Then it came to teatime this…
Giant Autumn Roundup: Asparagus
My allotment is far from closed for the winter, but going up there yesterday I realised that it’s definitely slowing down. Now is a good time to take stock, take a virtual wander around the plot and be honest about what worked and what didn’t. I’ll do it bit by bit to avoid tedium… The Asparagus was…
Gypsy Moths
Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV may no longer be at Greenwich, but, as I discovered when harvesting my blackcurrants, the Gypsy Moth is alive and well… It took a little while to work out what this hairy beast might be. He was chomping through my blackcurrant leaves at a rate of knots and there…
The Event Gardener 