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In the garden 2022

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Was thinking about good, old fashioned privet today. Remember how front gardens used to be fully encased in privet ? We had a reasonably clipped flat hedge of it, with a couple of poor attempts at castellation beside the gate. Nowadays it’s all been ripped out in favour of parking cars.

The reason I was thinking about it was because I’m now sick and tired of trying to get rid of box caterpillar on my box hedging. Yes it’s back again. So I’ve cut out as much of the infestation as possible, but I’m not hopeful. The hedging looks horrendous now, with large chunks missing from it. Why can’t it perform like privet used to ?

I give up. If it doesn’t start to behave it’s coming out next year ! Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Was thinking about good, old fashioned privet today. Remember how front gardens used to be fully encased in privet ? We had a reasonably clipped flat hedge of it, with a couple of poor attempts at castellation beside the gate. Nowadays it’s all been ripped out in favour of parking cars.

The reason I was thinking about it was because I’m now sick and tired of trying to get rid of box caterpillar on my box hedging. Yes it’s back again. So I’ve cut out as much of the infestation as possible, but I’m not hopeful. The hedging looks horrendous now, with large chunks missing from it. Why can’t it perform like privet used to ?

I give up. If it doesn’t start to behave it’s coming out next year ! Viv.
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Have you tried spraying with used washing up water, I cleared an infestation of cabbage whites, a few years ago. It needs to be done regularly as the new eggs hatch. spray under the leaves as well as the tops. Alf.
 
Shall give that a go Alf. Thanks, I’ve used the pheromone traps but they haven’t done anything. Not caught a thing. And they’re not cheap either. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Was thinking about good, old fashioned privet today. Remember how front gardens used to be fully encased in privet ? We had a reasonably clipped flat hedge of it, with a couple of poor attempts at castellation beside the gate. Nowadays it’s all been ripped out in favour of parking cars.

The reason I was thinking about it was because I’m now sick and tired of trying to get rid of box caterpillar on my box hedging. Yes it’s back again. So I’ve cut out as much of the infestation as possible, but I’m not hopeful. The hedging looks horrendous now, with large chunks missing from it. Why can’t it perform like privet used to ?

I give up. If it doesn’t start to behave it’s coming out next year ! Viv.
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Wherever practical, remove the caterpillars by hand, or prune out stems covered in the webbing and caterpillars and destroy. Spraying with an insecticide such as BugClear Ultra Gun! may prove useful in their control - a thorough spraying is needed to penetrate the webbing.
 
I use a 7ltr pressure spray with a small amount of fairy washing up liquid. It`s able to spray underneath the leaves & also able to reach a good height. Works a treat for me & better than using pesticides.
 
That’s great thanks. I’m onto it already. Well actually my 2 year old granddaughter was a extremely willing helper today, so we’ve now sprayed a lot of the hedge with a washing up liquid solution. She enjoyed the bubbles.

Over the last few days, I’ve cut out branches where there’s webbing, but there’s plenty more nibbled areas. Shall keep at it. What a time consuming job this has become.

Viv.
 
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mw0njm. said:
Yrt
gardeningmentor.com

Can You Use Fairy Liquid On Plants? (What Gardening Experts Think)

Fairy Liquid and other dish soaps have been commonly used to rid plants of bugs for many years, as it is a common household product so everyone has access to it, and it is inexpensive. However…
gardeningmentor.com gardeningmentor.com
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Possibly Pete, but the page seems to have been written by an extreme organic nut who does not really consider what he is saying and is mainly interested in pushing his own (probably very expensive) product, I have nothing against organic gardening, but to say it is dangerous to use fairy liquid on fruit and vegetables is stupid, and ridiculous. If it was dangerous on food products then the chances are that many would have become ill from using it on their plates in the sink. I remember having an interesting conversation with a senior member of the soil association who , at the time were against the processing of cooking oils with alkali (they preferred dark brownish oils that tasted rather unpleasant or very expensive oils such as extra virgin olive oil). Yet they were happy to endorse "organic" soap, which is manufactured by treating oils with alkali. He mumbled something about that being a difficulty.
 
ta mike,i thought that:grinning:
a few years ago the farm next door planted kale. and there were millions of green capatillers on the walls of the house and on my flowers i used washing up liquid in the hot pressure washer and blasted everything around they soon went. now i still use it,and have never had any probs.....,just a clean sparkling garden and hands as soft as me face.:grinning:
 
I have been seeing flocks of Swifts gathering for the last few days, in groups a couple of hundred strong. When I went out with the dogs this morning, there were a few on the overhead lines.



I did notice one Swallow with them.



There are also good numbers of House Martins down by the harbour, which is good to see.

Swifts and Martins are in bigger numbers than I have seen for a few years here.

Steve.
 
mikejee said:
Possibly Pete, but the page seems to have been written by an extreme organic nut who does not really consider what he is saying and is mainly interested in pushing his own (probably very expensive) product, I have nothing against organic gardening, but to say it is dangerous to use fairy liquid on fruit and vegetables is stupid, and ridiculous. If it was dangerous on food products then the chances are that many would have become ill from using it on their plates in the sink. I remember having an interesting conversation with a senior member of the soil association who , at the time were against the processing of cooking oils with alkali (they preferred dark brownish oils that tasted rather unpleasant or very expensive oils such as extra virgin olive oil). Yet they were happy to endorse "organic" soap, which is manufactured by treating oils with alkali. He mumbled something about that being a difficulty.
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oldMohawk said:
The 'Gardener's Delight' seeds I started outdoors too early with cold nights before the heatwave resulting in green shoulders and slight ridging (see #771) have turned out ok. Picked these today, sweet taste and thin skins, I'm delighted !
View attachment 172658
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Sister in Law had the same problem early with the Gardeners Delight, she said they have turned out cosmetically ok now but are on the bitter side. I brought some home cut them in half sprinkled with sea salt. Bloody marvellous.
 
Vivienne14 said:
That’s great thanks. I’m onto it already. Well actually my 2 year old granddaughter was a extremely willing helper today, so we’ve now sprayed a lot of the hedge with a washing up liquid solution. She enjoyed the bubbles.

Over the last few days, I’ve cut out branches where there’s webbing, but there’s plenty more nibbled areas. Shall keep at it. What a time consuming job this has become.

Viv.
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Hi Viv, we appear to have opened a can of worms with the suggestion of using Washing up liquid. As an alternative to washing up liquid we could use green soft soap. Not sure where it would be purchased from now, it was always available from good chemists. For that last few weeks I have been harvesting washing up water, letting it stand until cold then watering our boarders. With no ill effects.
Alf. C.
 
Chunky AC said:
I have been harvesting washing up water, letting it stand until cold
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We do the same. We also have a small bowl in the bathroom sink, and a large container in the shower for the same purpose.

We have a small tiled canopy over the front door, and I have just put guttering on it to feed into a water butt, all drops gratefully received.

When we were looking after caravan sites, pest control was subject to strict rules, outside contractors or specific training courses etc. I was not trained for pesticides, but when we had a small infestation of wasps around a couple of caravans. I loaded a sprayer up with strongly salted water and gave the area a dosing. Wasps did not like it up em, and left pretty sharpish. No harm to anything else, and the flora didn't seem affected. Wasps didn't come back either, so bonus points.

We often have trouble with lavender beetles, that can quickly make a mess of the plants. Julie removes them by hand, then takes them to a particular place on the garden path. She then stuns them with her shoe. Within tens of seconds, an ant will come for a look, followed by lots of its mates, and bye bye beetle. I doubt that they bother to re-assemble it when they get underground. I think the ants maintain a permanent lookout at that point on the path. They live far enough down the path not to cause any issues at the house.

We had an osprey fly over the garden on Friday, that's unusual.

Andrew.
 
Safe to say, there's been no ill effects on the box hedges from the washing up liquid so far. So I'm hopeful. Viv.
 
i see the leaves are starting to turn brown now,and the brambles are dying back:(
 
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