All change, from now on its.....Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows!

rtandon27

of course it was worth it!

(glad to 'see' you back:j)

Pippilongstocking

Thanks chaps, it sure was, manic week catching up on work. Hope you're all good. Rents paid for another month , alls calm here!

Sleepy now, take care

Uniscots97

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

hi, glad it was worth it lol I can just imagine you actually laying down.

You probably won't appreciate this but if you've ever watched the Wartime Farm series which has been on tv of late i always imagine the lady on there as being very similar to yourself. Not sure it's a compliment or not but she always seems to be up for a challenge and a laugh and gets stuck in with her favourite subjects.

Do you mean Ruth Goodman? That would be a compliment to anyone, she's fab!!!!

troglodyte

Hi Pippi and all,

Hope you've fully recovered from your manic week now Pippi!

Sorry I haven't been here for a while, the days have just flown past. First we had a near miss with flash floods when we had a lot of heavy rain. House was OK but some water got through the airbricks into the under-floor space and we're not having much luck getting it dried out so far. Then I was away for half-term week, visiting my Dad. Now just trying to get back to normal but can only just get through the obstacle course of 'stuff' to get to the PC.

On the MSE froont, I have just bagged a nice cot from ebay for 99p and a free cot mattress from Freegle :j; intending to take them to Dad's next time so that now we go quite frequently I don't have to cart the bulky travel cot with me each time (and I never got on that well with that as my arms are not quite long enough to comfortably reach the bottom!)

Pippi I have been meaning to thank you for your blog post about blight! Yes I did know what it was but I didn't realise that it spread so easily or so far. I had left my blighted tomato plants outside in the hope that the tomatoes they had produced would turn red before they rotted... I read that advice from the Potato Council that you linked to and found I could be causing infections for miles around :eek: I rushed straight out and took the lot to the dump.

Now I need some more advice; how do you keep the pests away from your indoor plants? After discovering that I could keep chilli and pepper plants for more than one year I thought I would try, so I brought half a dozen plants (which were all healthy and pest-free) indoors to a sunny windowsill. About a week later I found a small group of greenfly on one which I duly rubbed off, but then about another week later several of the plants were just covered in the horrid little parasites, with wilted yellowing leaves all covered in honey-dew. Tried washing them off but only had a slight effect in the long-term. How do other people avoid this - do I just spray them to death?

I also have a few citrus trees grown from pips, and this year they have been plagued by scale insects. I spend so much time washing and rubbing them off it's just ridiculous and I'm afraid of damaging the leaves in the process and so killing the plant anyway. The trees are all sticky and the honey-dew grows horrible black mould so my plants' leaves, the pots, windowsill and any furniture within reach are black and sticky. What do I do - help!

Oh dear I'd better get organised. DHL man just dropped off a parcel for next door and I had to asnwer the door in my dressing gown as I've been mooching on here instead of getting dressed! Hope you are all having a good week.

Pippilongstocking

Hi there Trog me dear, it feels like work is never ending at the moment then again I'm grateful I have a job.

I've been thinking about the insect issue. Give me a bit to do a bit of research.

My first thought on the scale is that potentially a nematode would be your best option. Indoor citrus seem to be plagued with scale and once you've got them they are hard to control

http://www.greengardener.co.uk/product.asp?id_pc=4&cat=52&id_product=253

(other companies are available)

My other thought re the citrus was that if they are pip grown, that might (sadly) be one of the factors. As most fruits and veg are hybrids (being a clever gal I know you'll know this) then any pips seeds etc will be any number of combinations of the hybrid and potentially less vigorous. Therefore potentially more prone to infections etc. Just saying, nowt wrong with growing pips but they can be more prone to pests and diseases.

Aphids on chillis' - sigh - they are a besom.

If its really bad. I'd do what you did but as you're going into winter perhaps cut back hard? And try and keep the remaining foliage clean. I put mine in the shower for a blast no chemicals but just blast them off. I know washing up liquid smothers them but I'm not keen on that, chemicals are chemicals in my mind. Its tedious to shower them but it works.

Avoid any systemic insecticides (if you go down that route) as they are edibles. Chances are there won't be any left in their system by the time you harvest them next year, but best safe than sorry.

Aphids are sneaky at just lurking about the place. A change of the top couple inches of compost and a feed might help. Things get sicker and more prone to infection at the end/start of the season if their nutrition is low _ if they've been in those pots for months (before you got them) then perhaps their soils is tired? A foliar feed is probably best and perhaps a follow on with a slow release.

If they're being silly in a group you can always clean them up and split them between rooms. That way you might find one is the culprit which is always worse and that will allow you to deal with that whilst the others recover. There are nematodes for greenfly (a parasitic wasp) but you need temperature above a certain level and no windows open so probably in a house, not the best solution but do have a peek about control.

As for blight - you poor girl! Glad to be of help.

Great bargain hunting a cot for 99p is a steal and I hope your dad had fun with you all. Flooding sounds awful. I hope you dry out soon......


No idea if any of that will help. But good luck!


If I remember right - is your place dark? If the light levels overall aren't right then plants will be more prone to attacks from pests.

Oh and the christmas cactus is putting on big fat flower buds....:) Thanks!

Pippilongstocking

unixgirluk wrote: »

Do you mean Ruth Goodman? That would be a compliment to anyone, she's fab!!!!

If that's who LT meant then I'm mucho chuffed!:j
Morning all.

:beer:

Pippilongstocking

Money - well I can't tell you whats happenning with it as I've been very silly and not looked for ages.

On the other hand I'm working so much aside eating/petrol and sleeping, I'm not spending.

Must get back on the mse wagon.

Sometimes the mantra of reduced shopping/store cupboard meals, combined journeys which are normal now - seem a bit dull to tell you all about.

My only news is that my old car went on fire at the garage. I guess that's news, no one hurt and its gone to the assessors.

Firstly this is not good, my dad and grandpa helped me to buy a bit of the car. Its like family Sniff.

Secondly we bought the teeny car knowing that the bigger berlingo (now dead RIP) was staying in the family with OH so I could use it for work (womble and gardening). This is not great and is already an issue.

Bah.

In other news. DS settled at University, DD happy dappy and we're away for xmas so must keep sorting that related travelling out.



Hope you're all well, sorry for being quiet - works bonkers.

Pippilongstocking

Wages cleared. Rent money moved to savings, Direct debits off.

Now that wasn't hard was it.

Now to pay anything off on CC.

Fingers crossed.

DedicatedDFW

Hey all!

Pippi - so sorry to hear about the car - good that no-one was hurt though - can the car be saved at all or is that what the assessors are looking at ?

We keep saying we'll go away for christmas but are never really sure how it'll work out - i guess imagining alot of places closed on the xmas day celebrations and then if we are in a hotel it'll be like celebrating with alot of strangers - no idea where we get these ideas from. So i wanted to ask as i *think* you've been away over the festive period before what its like ?

hopefully the money has been behaving itself whilst you have been busy :cool:

Hope all are well x

Pippilongstocking

Hi there DDFW

The car, I have the tax disc and the contents. The rest is now somewhere unknown........its all a bit sad really.

Being away at xmas - well - the thing about it all is that everyones so cheerful, and friendly so when you don't really know anyone where you are, its like you're all on an adventure bumbling along together.

We were in France last year and booked for xmas lunch at a local gastroplace which was fab - in hindsight most folk ate in the evening so that's what we'll probably do this year although it was still lovely and cosy and quite busy. The atmosphere was just lovely and decorations etc so beautiful. Its a bit like having your own special xmas with someone else doing all the hard work so you can just enjoy it without being frazzled or flustered about the state of the turkey.

I think most places that offer xmas breaks etc are well geared for cheerfulness and make things special for people there. So you get some lovely memories too!

Hope that helps!