great cartoon lol where did you find that!

Sounds like you have been having fun plum pudding, hope you get there ok, should be right up your street, smiles - wish we were living closer ! I would join you!

Well you all know I am very pro nature, so this made me smile, hard to beat natures efficiency !

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... iency.html

mine did the same.

mike thank you will look that up, yes looks like it was a blue mason bee, plenty trees round here with holes for their nesting and they also need mud which my ducks love to create by puddling from water bowls / ponds even in summer. It must have been a female cos quite large and fat like a small bum...

thanks Alan, i have seen bombus subterranous and muscorum all ginger, which are rare - we are near a saltmarsh.

hope you enjoyed your weekend away, happy birthday Catherine.

mine also did the same, the blight on the leaves dried up, still getting new growth and toms are ripening nicely only one plant succombed completely and I forgot to put rootgrow under that one, the others are doing fine.

If anyone lives near rhyton gardens this was emailed to me but is too far to travel, but posted it in case anyone else might be interested, real seeds and exotic crops and indian food are involved. Apparently many immigrants brought their fav foods with them to grow and many adapt well to our climat...

you could overwinter some peas in guttering and slide into the soil as soon as it warms up perhaps try some spinach if you like it.

A seasonal list of plants to help our bees and provide nectar by the bee keepers association

http://www.bbka.org.uk/files/library/po ... 045511.pdf

We get a good variety of bees here, but today I saw a smallish bumble bee type i had not seen before,it was black/ fuzzy but not thick fuzz, but shiny in the sunlight its wings were translucent with a electric blue quality, body/ tail also gave off a blue luminescence though basically black, no stri...

The retailers keep doing it 'cos every year we fall for it and consume - my answer buy after christmas in the sales and hoard till next christmas - even the wrapping paper and crackers and cards are much cheaper then ! We are acually buying less if we buy pre christmas, smaller products look much mo...

My miniature peaches got munched by a caterpillar and it was in the greenhouse, wasn't expecting that! Will watch out for those little B***gers next year as they ripen! do we get hornworm in UK?