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It occurs to me that it's about time for an allotment update.
The runner beans seem to be about to come on stream - the first of the plants reached the top of the poles a few days ago and the first few beans are getting to pickable size. The first couple of globe artichokes seem to be getting close to ready too.
I've had a few tomatoes from the Gartenperle plants, and jolly nice they were too!
The sweetcorn plants seem to be thriving and the largest of them has its flowers peeking out from the top already.
Rob suggested that some of the reason for my lack of germination success this year might be because things were drying out too fast, and that it might help to put a propagator lid over the trays of seeds while they germinate. I've tried this with cabbage Tundra and borecole and have had much greater success in germinating them than any other brassicas I've tried this year, especially the borecole.
Today's work included rescuing more of the herb bed, which has become horribly overgrown. I managed to break off a huge lump of the purple sage last time I worked on that area - I've used as much of that as I could for cuttings, which may or may not work, but there's still loads of the original plant left. Today I dug out a bit more and am slowly working my way toward the rosemary plant.
There was also hoeing of weeds and feeding of plants with comfrey juice.
One weed was spared however - at least by me - as it was busy being devoured by this handsome little chap :-
Google tells me that he's a Cinnabar Moth larva and dines principally on ragwort, so he's jolly welcome to any weeds he fancies on my plot and can bring his brothers and sisters too, if he likes.
busy
I hope your herbs do OK after their bed is cleared up. My rosemary has been badly hit by the need to cut it right back to get at the bay window from outside, to replace the window sills and fettle the window frames; I think it might not survive much longer, possibly not over the winter. Perhaps I should put some fertiliser onto the soil around its roots to give it a boost.
Nice picture of the caterpillar. With that colouring and those spikes, I'll bet it's pretty safe from birds.
Enjoy your runner beans! I'll bet the ones in the local shops will probably all be a foot long and tough enough to tow a battleship with :-(
I can see that, but I'm surprised at it also affecting the seedlings in the greenhouse - I suppose if the air's drier generally, that might nor help.
Thank you. The lavender's looking Ok and the sage, although leggy, seems healthy enough. The thyme is a little ragged, but should survive, I think.
I was reading about it, and apparently, because its main food is ragwort, it's also mildly toxic, so the birdies aren't likely to est msny of them even if the stripes don't work :-)
Our sage survived quite well for some years beside the rosemary bush, then suddenly died off in the space of a few weeks, without any apparent cause. The thyme was just swamped by the overgrowth of the rosemary, which I really should have cut back. The marjoram jumped ship, and now grows in the front lawn; it's covered in mauve flowers at the moment.
If they do, I imagine they'd get a bit of a stomach-ache, and won't bother with them again...
You have now caused herb-bed and comfrey-liquid envy, too :D
From rave caterpillar to goth moth!
I plant them in the cells to start with usually - theoretically less root disturbance when I pot them on that way. Most things go into the cells, and I use root trainers for peas and broad beans. Runner beans get toilet roll middles :-)
If you'd seen my herb bed before I started rescue operations, envy would not have been the dominant emotion, I suspect :-)
Hee! Rob says it looks like a proper caterpillar :-)