Friday 4 November 2016

Codling moth, harvests and getting rid of ALL dogs

Hello All
Well I might be a miserable old curmudgeon but my last post saw lots of hits and quite a few comments and I didn't lose a single follower!
Many thanks for all your comments. Looking back at old posts the ones where I "go off on one" seem to be quite popular. You're a funny lot !

And so to Codling Moth. Thanks for ideas and experiences. Rounding these up I have decided on a regime to try.
In the next week or two I shall slather some Vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the trunks of all my apples and plums about two foot off the ground. I shall add to this some Vic or stockholm tar, I've got some somewhere if I can only find it, which should make the grease unattractive to chickens, birds etc. It looks like there is no point to tying an actual band to the trees.
Next year I shall use Pheromone traps. One trap treats five trees within 50 foot. I reckon two in the orchard and one in the front garden should do it. Sue from Suffolk says that the refills work out much cheaper. In another area of the holding that has one apple, two plums and a greengage I shall try one of the homemade traps from the many youtube tutorials that I found. Cro uses a tar oil spray which might be the answer for the odd tree on the paddock boundary.
So wish me luck and if you have a go please share your results

I have been really busy with the Civic Society Heritage Exhibition over the last couple of weeks and we still have our Remembrance evening next week and a public consultation at the end of the month to set up, host and evaluate. We also have a major Planning Application to comment on. I really wish there was more time for the historical research that I enjoy so much, but there is none at the moment.

Picked a few more bushels of apples this week. Goodness knows what we are going to do with them all. We have the signs out but everybody else has plenty of apples. I have one evening free next week when I hope to catch a young person or two to help me press a bucketful or two to make cider.

The beans are about finished and there are many dried pods to collect. I have them all over the house in trays. When I am sure they are absolutely dry I pour them into bowls ready for Adam to sort into colours on his next visit, this is probably his favourite job after having a bonfire!.
 There are many speckled pink/black beans from Prizewinner, which are unattractive cooked so I am going to put enough aside for next years' seed and the rest I shall save for pig food (we hope to get a trio of pigs next year) Has anyone else fed their pigs dried runner bean seed?

We went on our last sea fishing trip of 2016 a couple of weeks ago. The freezer now contains copious amounts of fish, much of which we must eat to make room for the lambs in January. I make that sound like a problem don't I?!
 Any fish recipes to use the pollack and ling ? I'm always glad to ring the changes.
While we were in Looe we went for a meal with friends. I was talking about the labs I look after  that belong to my granddaughter and daughter. One of the company then said that he thought that all dogs should be got rid of. He said that the risk of just one child going blind was too great and that dogs were a scourge and there was no place for them in our society!
Bit extreme eh?!!!
Here are Coda and Sammie. Butter wouldn't melt.....
 Here is Cheeky and Chives eating apples. Chives isn't too fussed about them but Cheeky LOVES them. She comes to the gate every morning and blarts until I throw half a dozen into the field for her (and no, it isn't making any inroads in to the apple mountain!)
 Here is Coda saying "Can I have our ball back?" To which Cheeky replies "Not until I am sure it isn't an apple" I'm afraid she has destroyed quite a few balls this way and poor old Coda have to watch the destruction.

I have lots more to write and a few photos to share but this post is long enough. A warm Derbyshire welcome to a new follower on the side bar and one on Bloglovin, for some reason I cannot see who you are!
love Gillx





6 comments:

  1. The last photo was so sweet.
    Why did that man think children can go blind from dogs ?
    So strange.

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  2. I'm very fond of curried fish. I made one earlier in the week with Cod, which was delicious.

    Love your dogs, they remind me of ours (when we still had 2).

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  3. perhaps its the dog owners who dont clear up after there dogs who shouldnt have them, its a bit unfair to tar everyone with the same brush, the same should apply to cat owners.

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  4. It's owners who fail to clean up after their dogs that's the problem. I clean up after my cat in our garden every day. she never ventures away from the garden which I'm glad about - too many cruel humans out and about!!

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  5. So, will we get rid of all parrots because they carry polio? Or starlings that carry a myriad of parasitic, viral and bacterial disease. Reality check, something will get you some time, and if it doesn't work the first time it will simply mutate and turn into Swine Flu or SARS or perhaps something worse.

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  6. That's a very strong comment to make. I always cleaned up after my dog but like so many other areas in life you'll get people who won't. You'll always have those who ignore health warnings at the cost of others. Its life.

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