Flutterby Patch

Festive thoughts

You might remember last week I told you I was I feeling rather autumnal. Well friends, today you find me feeling distinctly festive. The reason....

I just happened to be loitering outside the local fabric store (as you do) when my eye was drawn to some delicious silver and gold fabrics. It's a warm sunny summery day today but on seeing these I was immediately transported to mid December and could definitely detect the scent of pine needles in the air. I had to buy a small selection of course.

On arriving home I matched the fabrics to my various trims.....

and was closely watched by some little faces waiting patiently to be made into Christmas fairies. It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas is it?

Golden days

Is it me, or is there a distinct hint of autumn in the air? Here in England's north country, after a fortnight of rain, we are enjoying golden days that have a balmy September-feel about them.

Perhaps it's the russet coloured blooms outside my window,

or the vibrant reds and yellows in the overgrown border.

The leaves on the acer, glowing like embers in the grate,

or the berries on the rowan trees, plump and shiny.

Perhaps it's the meadow grass, turning the colour of straw.

or the fluffy coated willow herbs

and thistledown being carried away on the breeze. 

I think it must be the rosy red apples that are plump and ready for picking.

Whatever it is, there's a definite hint of autumn in the air here at Flutterby Patch and August is barely a week old.

War on wasps

Greetings friends. I've been suffering this week with a very sore swollen ankle thanks to one of our angry neighbourhood wasps. I was doing a spot of weeding when a sudden stabbing on my lower leg stopped me in my tracks. After a second stab I spotted the vicious black and yellow striped enemy as it positioned itself for a third attack. Fortunately I was able to kill it before it succeeded.

I've had a few wasp stings in the past but these have been particularly nasty. I put up with the discomfort for a few days but when there was no improvement I resorted to taking antihistamine tablets and now thankfully the swelling is going down.

So its definitely war on wasps at Flutterby Patch this summer. Living in a wooded area we can't eradicate the nests and so I resort to traps.

The fruit in our little orchard is ripening nicely and but is attracting every wasp in the area. This is where I will place my traps.

My homemade wasp trap

   
Pour approx 5 cm (2 ins) of hot water into a glass jar and stir in a generous teaspoon of sweet fruity jam (I use raspberry or strawberry). Make a cap from a piece of kitchen foil that has a hole in the centre (hole about the size of a large coin). Place the jar under a fruit tree or wherever you see wasps gathering. They will enter the jar to drink the sweet liquid and eventually drown in it. It's not in my nature to kill anything but wasps are the exception. After a few days I will return to the jar and I know I will find a great many dead ones that have failed to escape. I'll tip the bodies at the edge of the garden and cover them with soil. Happily other insects keep their distance although slugs are sometimes trapped.

Here is another homemade wasp trap which I'm going to try as it sounds very effective.

  Discard the cap and cut the top off a plastic bottle to make a funnel.

Put 5 cm (2 ins) of hot water into the bottle and stir in a teaspoon of jam. Replace the top upside down into the bottle to create a funnel. Wasps will smell the jammy liquid and go down the funnel to drink but cannot find a way out.

I've placed the traps under the trees in the orchard and hope they help reduce the amount of damage inflicted to ripe apples and plums. I remove any damaged fruit that is on the ground so that the wasps will only be attracted to the jammy liquid. As you can see from the chewed apples above wasp have already been at work (as have the birds).

Finally a few facts:

A single wasp can sting you many times whereas a bee can only sting you once.
A bee dies after stinging and so is less likely to unless provoked.
A bee will leave it's sting behind so scratch it out with your nail as soon as you can.
Wasps are thirsty creatures and will congregate at the garden pond, birdbath or any damp piece of ground so don't choose these areas for your picnic!

Hoping you stay sting free this summer.
Until next time
Eli.