You could always not bother with the spray, check that the caterpillars are edible, and add them to your dinner. Celebrity jungle style.
Although I am not sure if I could bring myself to eat them.
Ellie x

Sorry to hear about the red mites. We have escaped them so far, thank goodness. Enjoy the bonfire though, revenge is sweet. You might want to run that blowtorch over the ground the hen house stood on, but don't set your garden on fire! But I am very intrigued to hear you took your hens on holiday wi...

Mmm they all look fab regardless of colour ... enjoy.

Totally off topic, but why are you in exile, Gregg??

Ellie x

At least the decline in bee numbers gets some publicity. Not enough in my opinion. And I suspect it only gets the coverage it does, because people like honey ... very sad. But on the plus side, it could be great for the unemployment statistics. When the insects decline enough, they will have to empl...

Is there a minimum number of signatures needed?
It's not yet at 12,000.
I've signed

No, sadly - and they haven't.
There is loads on the central reservation of the m6 a few miles away from our area.

I think you are right about the ragwort. I am pretty sure our council are obliged to remove any on public land, and private landowners may have to do the same. We don't seem to have any thank goodness, although I did have a mild panic attack over some similar looking budding plants - not quite yet i...

The green plums (gages??) feel quite hard and they are an unripe sort of green colour, if you know what I mean. Haven't tried eating one. Those that got blown off (and have been left lying around, tut tut) have gradually turned a lovely pinky red colour although they have been got at by various inse...

Thanks very much. In the meantime I have been researching how to introduce new birds to an existing flock. It seems there is much more to it than just putting them in together and letting them sort it out. So we have a bit of equipment to save up and buy first ... I can see how addictive hens are now

Hi all. We are loving our hens so much we have decided we would like a few more. One of our current four is a light sussex (white hen with black neck hackles and tail - as I am sure you all know) and we would like to get a couple more of the sussex breed. I really fancy getting a buff sussex (pale g...

I have to confess I never got round to finishing doing the thinning of our plums. But we have had a lot of wind up here and that did it on my behalf really ... loads came off in the wind and after that there were just single plums here and there, no clusters any more They are all still very green an...

Well, we went and had a look, and came back with 2 trees. We have a small crab apple, only about 3ft high, which was very easily moved, and is looking fine. Also a damson, about 4-5ft high, which didn't take to the move very well, it was looking very sorry for itself by the time we got home. They bo...

Hi all I may have the opportunity to go and dig up some fruit trees, but it has to be this weekend - beginning of August! Which is of course when all the fruit trees are busy making fruit. There is a pear, a bramley apple, 2 plum trees, all about 8-10 foot high. And a damson and crab apple, 2-3 foot...

Oh yes teabags ... my OH has just given up milk (yay!!! the rest of us are dairy free and he is finally coming on board!!!) and as a result is having his cups of tea black and very weak. So the teabag is dipped in and straight out again. When our friend was visiting at the weekend, I just put the (p...

Thanks Mo, glad I was panicking over nothing!
She has done a perfectly normal egg today, which I duly collected and then dropped on the way back to the house!