2024 - What I did today

Sounds like mites - they are too small for me to see: I know they are there by the damage they cause and when it is really bad, the webbing, leaf on the right. The one on the left is just starting to show damage.

   

Sounds like mites - they are too small for me to see: I know they are there by the damage they cause and when it is really bad, the webbing, leaf on the right. The one on the left is just starting to show damage.

You might be right. The leaves look very similar to mine, although there's no sign of webbing. Next trip to the greenhouse I'll take powerful lens to see if they are visible. Next question, what do you do about them?

Went for long walk in the hissing rain. Just couldn’t spend another day in the caravan.

Did some more hacking of brambles at the far end of the far end. I can see the ditch which runs my side of the boundary fence, still can't see the fence though. My neighbour told me that the landowner may be putting up new fencing and clearing the brambles. Fingers crossed!
Planted some leek stumps. Got wet. Went out freebie collecting and to Morries instead of gardening.

Laid some slabs just inside the gate. Started to get very muddy with all the constant rain. Did a bit of ferret run dismantling. The roof had already been re used elsewhere. So I removed one side and all the rocks from around the edges inside & out. Also removed the slabs from outside the ferret house. Harvested stuff.

Picked most of the dried mangetout seed pods and cut down the dead foliage.
Cut back brambles and weeds in Veg Plot 1 and the adjacent bit of hedge, also cut back some hazel from a previously coppiced tree.
Its Leaves week. I'll sow some seeds tomorrow. That's a promise!

Sounds like mites - they are too small for me to see: I know they are there by the damage they cause and when it is really bad, the webbing, leaf on the right. The one on the left is just starting to show damage.

You were right Mark, mites it is. Under the lens it looks like two spot mite.

Sounds like mites - they are too small for me to see: I know they are there by the damage they cause and when it is really bad, the webbing, leaf on the right. The one on the left is just starting to show damage.

You were right Mark, mites it is. Under the lens it looks like two spot mite.

My cucumbers have the same problem.

Sounds like mites - they are too small for me to see: I know they are there by the damage they cause and when it is really bad, the webbing, leaf on the right. The one on the left is just starting to show damage.

You were right Mark, mites it is. Under the lens it looks like two spot mite.

My cucumbers have the same problem.

Mites on cucumbers are horrendously common, says google

Weeded VP2 then moved onto Strip 3, Bed 20 to be exact, I know that because I found its Number hanging from a hazel tree. Its been there a while!!
A while back I covered a patch of weedy grass with some pond liner to kill of the weeds. It did the job, apart from killing the docks and nettles. Today, I've been digging these out. So satisfying when a long Dock root pulls out cleanly.
I'm undecided what to do with this patch but I need to do something before the weeds grow back. I'm toying with making it a soft fruit bed, all plants to be grown from cuttings - in other words, prune some fruit bushes and stick the cuttings in the ground to do their own thing. The alternative is filling it with wild flowers - or maybe do both!!