I've been trying to save lots of sweet pepper seed this year, which requires something like organza bags to isolate the flowers and prevent cross pollination. Just yesterday I was taking one of the bags off and noticed a lot of these red larvae underneath a few of the leaves. One of the problems with bagging a plant is any pests on the leaves under the bag will proliferate with wild abandon. As is the case with hot summers, aphids have been a problem in the greenhouse and it seems they had been having a party under the organza bag, until a helpful friend turned up. 

This year in the greenhouse I've seen hoverfly larvae, parasitic wasps, ladybirds and minute pirate bugs, but I'd never seen bright red larvae before. These are larvae of a predatory midge called Aphidoletes aphidimyza and they feed on over 70 species of aphid. They paralyse the aphid by injecting a toxin in to their legs, then suck the juice out of the aphid's body. An adult midge must have squeezed through the bag opening, or had already laid eggs in an aphid colony before I put the bag on. You can see some dried out aphid bodies in the photo.

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Seeing SC's first harvest from her own garden reminded me of our very first harvest here back in 2010 which was beetroot. 
But can you remember the very first thing you ever grew and harvested? I suspect mine was good old mustard and cress on the window sill!

A lot of the thug blackberry fruit have white drupelet syndrome. I only know this because I've googled it, until 10 minutes ago if someone had asked me what a drupelet was, I would have accused them of being naughty  .  It seems that the hot afternoon sun has caused the fruit to be stressed and caused them to have albino patches.  Another victim of the weather.  Anyone else got it?

Just seen this Challenge aimed at supporting British Farmers - to eat only British Grown Plants for a year. https://stockfreefarming.org/eat-only-br...for-a-year.
Its a Vegan site so is more restrictive than it would be for omnivores.
I'm tempted to try it but it would mean that I'd have to be more selective with the free food I'm given. No more bananas for example.

There's a list of UK Suppliers at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P5Cm...H_MO4/edit 
and, if you're on FB, lots of ideas for making substitutes for imported foods and recipes. 
I'm going to go halfway - not BUY any fruit or veg that's not UK grown but accept any free items that aren't to save them from the dump.

How dirty does the dog have to be, before you say “you are not getting on this sofa ?   

   

   

   


FYI he had been partly dried off but he decided to go back outside half way through     .

   

I've received a few packets of Chilli seeds from NutsnCones and, as you know, Chillies are on my Don't Grow list. So I thought I'd list them and see whether anyone would like to receive any of them in the next Seed swap. I don't want to send them out randomly, nor do I want to split the packets as that involves handling them and they scare me. 

Cayenne Chocolate 25 seeds
Curry Chilli 5 seeds
Demon Red 50 seeds
Cayenne Long Slim - 250 seeds
Apache - 50 seeds
Zimbabwe Black - 12 seeds
Bishops Crown - 10 seeds
Anaheim - 1200 seeds ( Not a typo!) 

I also have some T&M seeds -
Spangles
Jalapeno (Small Chilli)
Hot Thai

Any preferences: Have you grown them before?

This may be a stupid question. How do you dry your bean varieties for shelling? 
I know you’re supposed to leave them on the plants to dry naturally. I’m not convinced that’s going to be possible for me.  In the past they have just rotted on the plant because isn’t always so wet / damp / humid. 
Advice please.

What everyday objects do you find annoying? The ones that always cause a problem?

I have two in particular,

1. Sellotape. I always lose the end of it and have to turn the roll around several times, running my nail along it, trying to find that tiny difference in thickness where the Sellotape starts. or is it ends? I actually dread using Sellotape and its big ugly sister, masking tape.

2. Clothes hangers. They always seem to get caught up with another hanger in the wardrobe and garments fall off onto the floor.

Sam is a made man! Today he is running every peak on Mull that is over 2000ft high! You see , I told you he was mad     . He set off on him massive jury at 5.45 this morning. 
He’s doing it because he wants to ( mad    ) and to raise money for the Mull and Iona rangers service. 
Here’s a link so you can follow his progress. 
https://www.facebook.com/mullionarangerservice/ 

And here’s a map so you can see the level of lunacy involved 

   

We will be greeting him at the finish line where the fund raising will continue with a BBQ.

As you probably know I've been growing some seed collections this year; when I ordered them I hadn't realised that the seeds would be mixed in together so I have 10 tomato plants now fruiting from a possible 26 varieties. It's time to play What Tomato Am I?!

This is your selection - 

Imur Prior Beta round red, acidic
Wolly Green Zebra round green stripes
White Bush white/yellow flattened round
Pastel Sleeves pale pink or yellow blushed plum
Black Roma small elongated plum, dark red/black
Black Shadow round very dark, perhaps striped
Moravsky Div round red potato leaved
Gregori Altai pale red flat round beef
Skyreacher large round, pale red
Coeur de pigeon thumb sized red plum
Russian Persimon large orange beef
Banana Legs elongated yellow plum
Rose de Berne large pink beef
Washingon Cherry round red determinate
Farenheit Blues dark blue black, round
Rancho Solito pale red round with nipple
Podland Pink pale washed out pink plum
Raisin Vert pale green/yellow, round, slightly oval
Abracazebra large round green
Bigarée Isis Candy round, pinkish red cherry
Luckhenbach Zebra pale red, striped
Poire Jaune yellow pear
Saucy Green stripy green plum
Black Centiflor Hypertress small round very dark red/black
Prize of the Trials orange red egg
White Queen white beef

And the photos         

3/2 is cut because the difference between flesh (orange) & skin (red) is very distinctive. 
3/2 & 3/4 have really nice acidity levels.
Have fun