What have you done in the garden today? Part 7

[Jimmyneutronsforehead]

Continuation thread from MereDint's previous threads.

I totally agree with you.

I wish your fennel, chilli and tomato planting the best of luck!

The paddling pool is still up from the previous week so I’m filling the watering cans from that (slightly topped up by some rain overnight)

More rain forecast for today and tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

We’ve just had an hour of heavy rain! And more forecast for tomorrow.

Just gearing up to mow the lawn, but we've got cinnabar moth caterpillars on the stray ragwort scattered through the garden.

I've just been and relocated as many as I can, being mindful not to overload the plants, but we've got them in abundance.

So now I'm sat here thinking shall I dig these ragwort up and put them in a plant pot instead.

DS has been keeping an eye on them each day, so he'd probably be over the moon to have a plant pot garden of weeds to watch his caterpillars grow on.

Ragwort is so pretty at this time of year, I’d dig them up!

I have a lot of butterflies this year, this gatekeeper even posed nicely for a photograph:

So I've decided not to mow the lawn today, and tomorrow after DS hospital appointment I will dig the ragwort up and put them in pots.

I am wanting to start a perennial British nature section in the garden anyway so what better time than when faced with the life or death situation of some caterpillars.

Haven't had many successes in the garden this year but have been outside admiring the successes that I have had. One of my hollyhocks is taller than our conservatory. My beans survived a big flop. Accidentally pruning my wisteria all the way back might have been the best thing for it as it's put out loads of new growth so fast.

Small victories, but victories nonetheless.

I harvested some patty pan squash and a round courgette, and discovered the french beans are about ready to start picking. Cooked black beans with herbs, garlic and onion all from the veg patch and will stir through some of the baby cavolo nero leaves towards the end.
I love the veg patch.

The unmown part of the lawn is now a sea of hawksweed flowers swaying in the breeze. They are between 6 and 10 inches high on their narrow stalks and look so dainty. The teazels are slow in getting going but I have hopes.

we've got cinnabar moth caterpillars on the stray ragwort scattered through the garden.

Ragwort is poisonous to livestock and should be pulled up. Not saying there will be horses or cattle eating your lawn but even a bit that had died off and dried up and blown away is dangerous if (accidentally) eaten.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-how-to-prevent-the-spread-of-ragwort

Cinnabars also like pineapple plant weed if you have any

No pineapple weed in the garden, plenty growing in the cracks on the street, bit apprehensive to relocate them there though as the council keep coming round spraying weedkiller on the paths.

Fortunately I don't live near any livestock, we're a corner house right on the end of a council estate, opposite miles and miles of field which does eventually meet a forest after half a days walk that they decided to plonk an industrial estate and glass recycling facility on.

Pineapple weed is something I would like to grow in my garden though, but I've never looked to see if I can buy seeds anywhere.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead I'd already looked a while ago when looking for something to fill the edges of my paving etc, and you can get it off eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134993606234

I didn't know cinnabar moths liked it as well as ragwort, and now I do I'll make sure to get some

@ILikeDungs - unless you have a pony or a cow, ragwort is really not a problem. Its danger in a suburban setting is wildly overstated. People have been pulling it out for decades in the U.K. to the detriment of wildlife.

It’s pretty and the cinnabar moth caterpillars use it to make chemical weapons, which is the coolest thing.

They don’t digest it, they just store it in their cells as a toxin. So anything that eats a cinnabar moth gets horribly sick and leaves all future cinnabar caterpillars alone. That’s just amazing.

I am in a rural area (edge of small village, surrounded by farms, paddock behind me) so we do have to take ragwort seriously. Even a passing rider whose horse takes a chomp of grass could unwittingly eat some ragwort. Horses avoid it when it is in the green but can't tell so well when it has died back. Regularly had to check my horse's paddock, did not want any ragwort getting picked up when the field was topped. So I worry!

I will definitely remove them at the end of the season and start some pineapple weed instead.

I had no idea that they were a danger to livestock.

Yew is also poisonous to horses. A horse consuming any part of the yew plant is a veterinary emergency and the prognosis is extremely poor. Another plant I didn't know was a danger before getting a horse.

Irish Yew is one of the most poisonous plants in the country - only laburnum matches it for toxicity. Either can kill a person.

Yew is like foxglove - no one should be eating it! Medicinal uses only.
Yew berries are technically edible - don't swallow the seed though. I quite like them - slightly insipid slimy strawberry and pineapple. Quite fun for a carefully controlled party trick.

Got a nice healthy looking Musa Sikkimensis Ever Red in Tesco this morning for £8. I should have bought a couple. Foolishly I bought a hosta as well. Let’s see if I still have it in the morning.

I’ve painted a bench and spent some time tidying my sweet peas. The ones in the pot got off to a good start but are looking straggly and the bottom leaves are yellowing. I think there’s probably too many in the one pot so I’ve thinned out the weakest. Conversely of the ones I planted in the garden only one has taken off but it’s a beaut.

I deadheaded my buddleia and added to the Big Butterfly Count, there were five different species in a small garden.

We ate some beans today from the garden. They were glorious. My first time growing beans.

Still waiting for my 2 tomatoes to ripen.

I had no idea this was a thing!

We've got cinnabar moths, cabbage whites, mint moths, and a few that I don't know the names of, but one is a little reddy orange, tiny one, and then a bigger orange one with a more classic butterfly shape. I've also seen (though not in my garden) those glass wing ones that I don't think I've seen since I was a child who used to spend all the summer time rambling round the becks.

Just had a little Google and I think they could have been clearwing moths. Definitely not the exotic glasswing butterfly greta oto.

Ate the first tomato 🫅🏻 (black cherry)
Went snail picking in the rain
Got some half price lobelia and osteospermum from B&M

We had thunderstorms predicted for most of this afternoon. Friends kept sending videos of the thunder and lightning from their windows but it feels like the storm just decided to skip our house. It's a shame though because I have noticed the plants seem to have a bit of a boom when there's a thunderstorm.

Plenty of rain though so hopefully that will have helped.

Went and pulled out the dry dead plants from the front garden. No excuse for them becoming dry or dead, except I didn't want my neighbour to spot me and tell me about his catheter for the 10th time. It's become a duck and cover situation in the front garden. Really need some drought tolerant plants.

Not great for humans either - Boudicca apparently killed herself by eating Yew!

I always remember this case report. Just went on and on and on…