sacrifice

August 11, 2010 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)25 Comments

Thanks to lots of rain over the last few days things are continuing to grow and ripen quickly here in our garden. Although I think it's also partly due to an acquired bit of veg growing wisdom that I picked up from various books and blogs – the practice of companion planting sacrificial plants.

I've been growning nasturtiums and borage both of which are incredibly easy and cheap to grow from seed and are self replenishing as they set seed very well and so you have a free crop for next year. These are both now crawling with blackfly, aphids and caterpillars while my tomatoes, beans and raspberries are completely bug free and growing delicious crops.

There's another benefit too as there's a little ecosystem developing with ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies all swooping in to feed on the blackfly banquet. It feels good not to be spraying chemicals all over the garden and instead trusting in nature to keep my crops safe from mini-munchers and I love showing Amy the interaction between all the insects. We especially like ladybirds and can trace the entire lifecycle of the 7 spot under our very noses…

…from larvae…

…to pupae…

…to adult…

If you're growing any fruit or veg yourself then I'd definitely recommend planting some sacraficial companion plants alongside them – there's a good list here.

crafts & knitting

wet weekend

August 7, 2010 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)39 Comments

It's pouring with rain here, so there's no chance of knitting in a sunny garden today. Still, I have managed a little crochet inside and I've now finished 3 of the 4 crochet cushions that I'm working on. I really like the first one (on the left), I'm quite pleased with the second one (on the right) but I'm not sure about the 3rd one (in the middle). It doesn't bode well for the 4th one and I've run out of steam a bit – hopefully it will look ok when I eventually finish it!

(1, 2 & 4 are based on Attic 24's summer garden granny and the 3rd is Jan Eaton's square target granny from her book '200 Crochet Blocks')

week 2

August 5, 2010 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

The summer hols are continuing happily here with everyone still in good humour! The highlights of our second week have again been water-based with a lovely day at the seaside (West Wittering in West Sussex) with Grandparents, Cousins and Auntie.

There has also been some splashing back at home in the paddling pool – not quite as exciting but still fun, especially with a garden hose!

Splash

We've also had some rain this week which has been great for the garden and everything is growing fabulously. I'm still enjoying getting to grips with the camera which has resulted in far too many photos being taken around here!

We're quite enjoying the relaxed pace of summer, with a few days out and about thrown in to prevent bordeom setting in. I'm at my happiest though when I get to grab a little time in the garden with my knitting or crochet and have a new favourite corner by the shed where I've been sitting on my newly-finished cushions and an old chair that was my Grandparent's.