Snails reproducing on the doorstep

This morning I was surprised to see two snails locked together as they reproduced. The photo clearly shows the tube of each snail entwined. They stayed in the position for a number of hours before moving slowly away in different directions.

This reminds me of the time I found two slugs reproducing. That photo is not on this blog so I will search my files and add it at a later date.

Meanwhile, the garden is blooming with huge amounts of day lilies, Hostas, Hebe and fuchsia's attaching lots of bees into the garden.

Vegetable-wise the dwarf beans have been producing a handful of beans every other day. The peas and runner beans are just starting to flower and so a harvest should not be far away.

The two leeks that have been growing since last year bolted a few months ago. I left them to see what would develop and as the photo shows they have bloomed into beautiful circular flowerheads.

The flowering leeks have also been great at attracting bees. I am trying to grow leeks again this year and so far four are growing well. I am also trying spring onions growing them all together in a large deep container.

The garlic is look good too. I had a sneaky peek at a couple of the bulbs today. They still need some time to develop fully but so far so good.

A Blackfly horror story

The last few months have seen the horrid beasts, the blackfly and on a smaller scale greenfly, attempt to take over the garden. The apple tree has been the worst affected. The tips of the branches have become a haven for blackfly, curly over the leaves and laying masses of eggs. Ants then march up the branches and seem to be feeding on the flies. I'm not sure what the ants are actually doing but they are not reducing the numbers as I first hoped.

My method for clearance is to put on the garden gloves and systematically squash and wipe them all away. As the tree is about 5 feet tall it is possible to do this by hand. While the tree is small like this I think it is important to take this much care of it. Once it is taller the apple tree will have to fend for its self but by then it should be much stronger. I have now cleared the flies three or four times over the last few months but it doesn't take long for the critters to re-establish themselves again.

The photo shows a mass of greenfly on the underside of the leaves, while ants crawl around them. More recently they have been blackfly.

I have also found blackfly on the runner beans and Rose of Sharon. Greenfly are in the lettuce but that is to be expected.