The Possumchops Patch

Sunday afternoon also saw activity in the garden. Our second plot was finally christened with the planting of seedlings. A couple of punnets of mignonette lettuce (seen as my seeds didn't seem to happen), some Ox Heart tomatoes and a punnet of snow peas.

The first plot is trudging along slowly, but the poor thing needs a rest. Our first cucumber has been devoured (crunchy and juicy!), we've lost a baby to the grubs, and the latest one resembles a water balloon, not very big and bottom heavy. My poor cucumber plant is taking a solid hit from some tiny little mites, which I think might be aphids. I have a nice little flock of lady beetles attending to this problem, however, I think the mite is winning. I go out grub squashing every day and that has definitely made a massive difference on how much is being eaten before my eyes, but these little mites are just awful. I don't want to spray, as I don't want to scare off the lady beetles, but I'm not sure what else I can do.



We also lost our first zucchini, I suspect it wasn't pollinated as there were no boys flowers open at the time. This week we have a new baby zuch, and lots of boys, and plenty of bees, so fingers crossed this one will grow big and strong.


All my garlic has sprouted,

I now have 2 rows of beans, and my beetroot, or what germinated is struggling along. We also have about a dozen baby pumpkins on the go. We added dolomite lime and a little 5 in 1 to the soil after all that rain and next thing we knew, we had girls galore.

And Gramps left grasping a fist full of radish's and parsley, happy as Larry.