Plump and pendulous
The little bastards are back.
Having seen off the gooseberry sawfly larvae last time with a good dousing of bug clear spray, I was doing the usual plant watch at the weekend and found yet more devastation, and a whole new breed cycle of nasty green wiggly things. This time the gooseberries were so nearly ripe I didn't want to spray. It says on the package that you can eat fruit once the spray has dried, but I'm not so sure. This stuff is designed to kill animals - admittedly much smaller animals than me - so I'd rather not take the chance.
Despite all their best efforts to destroy them, this year has seen a bumper gooseberry crop, and since they're going to be mostly jam (there's only so much fool you can take), I decided to strip the whole lot off and then douse the remaining leaves with bug killer.
what's green and hairy and goes up and down?*
My hands and arms now look like I got into a serious argument with a porcupine, and they itch like crazy, but the bushes have been stripped. It wasn't a bad haul either. I took great delight in spraying the hell out of the bushes afterwards, but I fear next years crop is going to be rather meagre by comparison.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to whip some cream.
* a gooseberry in a lift.
Having seen off the gooseberry sawfly larvae last time with a good dousing of bug clear spray, I was doing the usual plant watch at the weekend and found yet more devastation, and a whole new breed cycle of nasty green wiggly things. This time the gooseberries were so nearly ripe I didn't want to spray. It says on the package that you can eat fruit once the spray has dried, but I'm not so sure. This stuff is designed to kill animals - admittedly much smaller animals than me - so I'd rather not take the chance.
Despite all their best efforts to destroy them, this year has seen a bumper gooseberry crop, and since they're going to be mostly jam (there's only so much fool you can take), I decided to strip the whole lot off and then douse the remaining leaves with bug killer.
what's green and hairy and goes up and down?*My hands and arms now look like I got into a serious argument with a porcupine, and they itch like crazy, but the bushes have been stripped. It wasn't a bad haul either. I took great delight in spraying the hell out of the bushes afterwards, but I fear next years crop is going to be rather meagre by comparison.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to whip some cream.
* a gooseberry in a lift.
Comments
Luckily, my geranium bug (I don't know their Latin name) larvae haven't been back so far.