My Small Suburban Garden

My Small Suburban Garden

Thursday 27 March 2014

Here Comes Summer...



At long last the weather forecast is predicting a ‘sunny spell’ and it’s all hands on deck with the watering can. My ornamental poppies have begun to flower and the lobelias are finally standing their ground. The geraniums are in full leaf but I have yet to see any evidence of buds, but at least the petunias add some much-needed colour to my small suburban garden.

The jasmine is still lacklustre but the honeysuckle is doing sterling work in attracting the bees. The begonias, however, appear to be copying the geraniums (all leaf and no flowers). I remain thrilled with the wild flower mix I bought and have been delighted to spot a marigold or two.

Due to the lack of a single ladybird so far this year, black-fly continue to destroy the leaves on my cherry tree (the wild cherry trees are thankfully unaffected). After seeing ants crawling all over it I researched online, only to discover that the ants were harvesting the black-fly eggs (yes, gross!) and were actually protecting them from other predators (in the absence of ladybirds I’m wondering what else might be interested in eating them). I felt I had no choice but to use ant powder to remove the unwanted ‘farmers’ and physically remove all affected leaves one by one. Whether this will put an end to the black-fly only time will tell…


JULY 6, 2013

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