Yes Plantman - especially the greenfly in my garden! Everytime I think I’ve got rid of them, new ones have settled. I’ve never had such a bad problem with them before.
Barry 
I put my beans out this morning expecting rain later and a mild week giving them a good chance to get established
Because I only grow one row of beans I had a lot left so planted those in pots last week as insurance against frost.
Yes Meg that’s a good idea, but I always plant a second seed at the side of each cane at the same time as I plant the seedlings anyway to give a succession of beans later on, so they give me an insurance against losing the first ones to frost,let’s just hope we don’t need them though …
Nothing to do with our gardening but just an item I read that tickled me.
B&Q recalled all their mole catchers in Ireland…because they were faulty??
No, because there aren’t any moles in Ireland 
Could we send them some of ours ? Half the population from the area alongside the A307 in Fairmile would not be missed
Went for a stroll round the estate this morning.
I was expecting a lot of wind damage but not too bad at all.
We have several lillies in pots, that I have been checking for the dreaded red lily beetle. Yesterday I found a dozen of the blighters, which I squashed and today just one.
Any one else found any? Was thinking of making up a garlic
spray, isn’t that supposed to repel them?
Not found any as yet but last year by the time I did find them, it was too late …I have lilies in the garden I think they’re attacked as soon as they emerge…garlic may be a good idea, certainly a strong scent may ‘move’ them somewhere else, next door maybe?!
Wal has just said he read an article about red lily beetle today - boil up a garlic and add washing up liquid 
So garlic wasn’t a bad idea after all
Going to have a lovely smelly garden
Oh, I’m glad you’re not my neighbour!!!
Just when I was feeling pleased that I was actually going to have some gooseberries on my one bush this year I notice the sawfly caterpillars have arrived and are busy stripping all the leaves :twisted: I spent ages this afternoon with a pair of tweezers picking them off not an easy task because they are the same colour as the leaves and blend in so well.
Funny you should say that Janela, I use Garlic with baby shampoo, and yes, it does pong, but the smell wears off after a while.
Ages ago I read somewhere about the baby shampoo having more beneficial ingredients than washing up liquid, but can’t remember all the details properly now.
We have a cheap shop like a £pound shop a couple of miles away and I’m going to buy baby shampoo from them when we get there (probably next week), thanks Mups.
Sorry to hear about the gooseberry bush Meg!
We found an infestation of blackfly? on our blackberry bush, looked disgusting, it had shrivelled all the leaves, no signs of fruit or a decent leaf, so Wal gave it the ‘chelsea chop’ this morning.
I hope it pulls through. (fingers crossed emoticon needed )
My two gooseberry bushes are laden with fruit ( one was supposed to be red berries - they are both green ) I even took two cuttings from the ‘red’ one to give to my daughter and dil - I don’t think they’ll want them
The new strawberries we planted Malling Centenary, which is a new variety, have lovely big conical fruit and are ripening
My one dismal failure - kale
Planted a dozen and have one left! They were planted next to the old strawberries and in between the gooseberries - everything covered in netting, so it wasn’t birds 
must have been slugs or snails :twisted:
We had our first new spuds from the garden today, and very nice they were too.
My gooseberries are laden with fruit as well Jan and virtually ready to pick, and the loganberries, blackberries and blackcurrants are looking right off the scale for quantity, in fact I’ve a feeling that I’m going to run out of people to give fruit away to this year even after I’ve filled the freezers…:shock:
I’m going to dig up a root of spuds tomorrow Barry. Like you my gooseberries are looking good. I discovered blackfly on the broad beans today so I’ll be spraying tomorrow. I did nip out the tips but the little black devils managed to take hold.
There seems to be a plague of blackfly this year and not many ladybirds about - the ants are vigorously farming them
I found two harlequin and disposed of them :surprised:
I picked a large gooseberry but it was quite bitter still … not sure how long it will be.
The blackcurrent bush is surviving after Wal gave it a chop, it was badly infested but I’m glad to see it shooting, must remember to spray it early next year!
The Malling strawberry had five ripe fruits, so I picked them this morning, they will be eaten later - looking forward to them, I understand it is the choice of variety for Wimbledon this year 
We ate our Malling strawberries last night, along with a dozen from the old plants. There was no comparison, the Malling was dark, shiny and a lovely flavor, I highly recommend them. We will be potting up the runners and phasing out the old ones, that we’ll use for jam.
Pah! My gooseberry plants didn’t like being neglected while I was away and I have…ONE gooseberry! Better luck next year
Had the first of my strawberries today ‘Mara de Bois’ . They are perpetual and go on fruiting until autumn providing you keep picking them