Beauty and the Beasties

Our July weather has continued unabated, fog and rain and very high humidity levels.Some parts of the country had the sunniest June for more than 50 years and all parts experienced warm temps for days at a time, averaging 14%c but the highest recorded was 27.5%.
Flash flooding this morning caused chaos on the roads as people tried to get to work.A heavy grey fog of mist has now descended on us here in Cork which makes for prime potato blight conditions so rain or not I will have to spray tomorrow.
I walked around the garden this morning in one of the brighter spells and took some photos of the flowers with raindrops on them trying out the macro setting on my camera. The Lillies are holding their own at the moment and provide a big splash of colour.
The Fuchsia is still blooming through the hedge.This grows wild around the roadways in the south of the country and I suppose we don't appreciate it enough.
I have begonias in red,pink and white
The sweet pea are thriving also and I have a bunch indoors as well, definitely a cut and come again flower.
Calendula in a pot is growing upwards and lots of blooms on it. I have it at the door of the plastic greenhouse to attract the bees inside when the door is opened up.
That is all the beauty for today, now for the BEASTIES! Our early potato area on the allotment. I found a lot of slug holes in the Orla when I dug up some of them, the Colleens seem to be OK so far.Photo from the top are 2 drills of Orla,4 Colleen,2Charlotte,1Home Guard and 1 of volunteers.The affected ones seem to be closer to the grass path and even though a plot is visible behind that was up to very recently just a grassy field.
The nasties which the good gardeners on The gardeners forum think may be at the root of our problems. The on the left is a wireworm who obligingly makes holes in potatoes and the equally ugly slug then gets in. The problem may also be caused by Keeled slugs which I think are an ongoing problem and nematodes of which I have absolutely no experience are the recommended solution.
If you want to follow the complete thread and read about other gardening problems etc this is an excellent site as any query is usually answered within hours if not minutes.There is a permanent link on the side bar or log on here

Comments

sharonl said…
your flowers look beautiful, must remember to put a few around next year to encourage bees. We put down some marigold seeds to keep the aphids at bay but they are extremely slow coming up.
July 2, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Shaheen said…
That was it, wireworm - the beasty that was making holes in the potatoes, some of the plotholders had their soil ridden with the creature, we get them now and again.
July 3, 2009 at 4:12 PM
Peggy said…
Hi Sharon, these flowers are at home. Out in the allotment we have calendulla,snapdragons and a few more just to add some colour.We are waiting for our sunflowers to growout there.
mangocheeks,the wireworm is a nasty piece of work, at least you say you only get them now and again so hopefully they are not a permanent ongoing problem.
July 4, 2009 at 6:45 PM
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