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mandag den 17. juni 2024

Sunday Selections ~
How I spent my Birthday ~ Thankful edition

Søndagsbilleder ~ Haveglæder på min fødselsdag

My birthday this year was sunny and nice. I longed for work in the garden, some fresh strawberries maybe or other garden delicacies after weeding a bit.

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But ... first I realized that my old nemesis - the wax scales - had once again returned with a vengeance on my bay laurel bush.
I am thankful that I quickly found out that when you have a major infestation like this one, the wax scales also live on the topside of the leaves ...
... and on the stems. My pink toothbrush from earlier seasons had disappeared, but I found a new, old toothbrush, this time a blue one.

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Inside the dome more pests had been living the sweet life. Some of the poppies were totally wrapped in webs from some smallish mites - they were thrown to the hens to eat or not - they did.
They look strange, don't they? Almost like wrapped in cling wrap.

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I was given a common spindle in exchange for some walnut husks last autumn. It survived first the transplanting, then the winter, then the wet spring. But ... someone has been eating it, and wrapping it in webs too. I read up on it, found that it was Spindle ermine, a common moth, and that it would not kill the plant, only cause a setback.

Here are the sad remains.
A closer look revealed that the stem - or is it a trunk? - was almost broken. An Owlet admitted to the deed, an accident, and "isn't this just a weed, MotherOwl?".
"No it is SO not a weed, dear Owlet," MotherOwl answered and grabbed the Gaffer tape, remembering the old adage 'If you can't fix it with gaffer tape, you did not use enough!"
Fixed spindle tree.

And on a closer inspection, it did indeed survive the attack of the Spindle ermines.


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Farm engineering works in the Owlery too I hope.


Then I continued the the strawberries, I found ONE ripe strawberry, the blackbirds had eaten the rest, just as they - and the doves - are eating all my redcurrants - Stupid birds!

But the elder was full of flowers, so I made us half a bucketful of elder cordial
Like this!

And I picked rhubarbs, around a kilo and froze in two bags for rhubarb pies in the months to come, where we celebrate a lot of birthdays.

Huge thankful for the gifts of the garden - and for one of my birthday presents; a "bouquet" of steel posts to hold up the nets that keeps the blackbirds away.

11 kommentarer:

  1. Happy birthday. It sounds like a lovely and productive day. Greedy birds eating all your berries. Perhaps the strawberry they left was a present to you - and I hope you ate it.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Theank you , yes I ate the one left over ripe strawberry - it was good, and the Writer brought home strawberries from a farmer nearby. We all had enough.

      Slet
  2. I wish you many happy returns of your birthday, and more strawberries and other fruit and vegetables from your garden.

    Your farm engineering is exactly what I use for lots of other things, too.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you - that farm engineering is great, and useful.

      Slet
  3. Happy birthday!
    Difficult situation in the garden!
    I hope it is treated in the best way!
    Have a nice day!

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. TThank you, I'm trying my best to stay on top of the bugs and birds, but they are the majority,

      Slet
  4. I am sorry you have so many bugs but am glad the spindle survived and has new buds. Too bad about the strawberries, can you cover them with netting next time?

    SvarSlet
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    1. I am in the process of covering them with netting, using my birthday gift poles. Strawberry season here only really begins on my birthday.

      Slet
  5. Happy birthday! Drooling over the rhubarb, can't get where I'm living now and a favorite! Nice save on the limb, what a welcome surprise to find the buds. Bugs! Have had my share recently, reminded when we fought Japanese beetles on all our berries, had to use electric shop vaccum to suck and dispose. Nasty smell.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you ... and I naively thought that rhubarb could grow just about everywhere. Japanese beetles sounds like a pretty but not very nice pest.

      Slet

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I am grateful for all comments, and try to reply meaningfully to all of them.