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We dragged the teens out of bed yesterday morning to come with us to the allotment and help with the weeding operation, they were not happy. My son is a great help though, once he gets going on a job he puts a lot of effort in. I wish I could say the same about my daughter. She faffed about pulling out a few weeds before taking control of the camera and wandering about the site looking for things to photograph. When I came across this Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar, I knew it spelled the end of any work she was going to do as she spent quite a while taking snaps of it, one of which you can see here. They're huge caterpillars and fuchsias are one of their favourite foods, but as we don't have any fuchsias at the allotment, I can only imagine that all the rosebay willowherb, which is in the same family as fuchsias, is keeping its hunger at bay. We managed to get an hours work done before the heavens opened and a heavy rain shower drenched us and had us running for the car. There's still plenty to do, but we've made a start.
My sweet peas have been short lived this year. I was picking them for a while before we went on holiday, but unfortunately, they were left alone over the fortnight we were away and I came home to plants full of seed pods. I suppose they believe their work is now done as they've set seed so they won't bother producing any further flowers. It's a shame they were over so soon as I was enjoying bringing the blooms indoors, they had such a gorgeous scent.
The goldfinches have gone in to hiding since we've been away. I filled all the feeders up before we went on holiday but they were all empty on our return. I filled them again when we got home but it seems they must have found another food source in the meantime. I'm sure they'll come back again in their own time, but at least the chaffinces and greenfinches are still visiting.
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I'm most envious of people who can rustle up children to assist them on the plot - a little help now and again is better than none :) Daughter may have been sidetracked but a great photo Jo. Sorry to hear that your sweet peas have given up the ghost - as you say they need that regular picking to keep producing flowers. If you were nearer you would be more than welcome to a bunch from my plot.
ReplyDeleteHelp from my two is virtually non existant, they weren't best pleased when their sleep was interrupted, I can tell you. It's such a shame about my sweet peas, it doesn't take much for them to stop producing so it's important to continually pick them.
DeleteI'm sure the goldfinches will be back when the natural food dwindles. We don't have as many at the moment and our feeders have been filled regularly. We seem to have more young blue and great tits now.
ReplyDeleteA plot neighbour found a hawkmoth caterpillar a few years ago and thought it was a small snake!!!!
There aren't quite so many blue and great tits here at the moment, but we're inundated with sparrows. The caterpillar was huge, certainly big enough to be a small snake so I can see where she's coming from.
Deletewhat is it about young people? I think mine are turning into vampires - they seem to actively fear the daylight! Hey ho, at least they help in the afternoon/early evening. Yesterday, we were chasing the turkeys round the field - ended up having to clip their wings as they got into our neighbours garden, yet again! Kids thought it was a hoot.
ReplyDeleteI think they'd sleep the clock round if I let them. I bet those turkeys are hard to catch, it must be a real job to round them up when they run off.
DeleteHi Jo, just been catching up. Lol on your daughter...she sounds about as good as my son!! I am very jealous of your tomatoes...none of mine look like they are ever going to turn red!!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great now we are all getting veg in abundance...I loved the picture of your box of veg...Far greater looking than anything you see in the supermarkets!!
Fingers crossed you get some more help with the weeding...I think I should get on with some more too!!
The majority of my tomatoes are still green but I'm getting the odd one or two red ones each day, and the rest look like they could be on the turn. I love this time of year when there's plenty of things to pick and eat, makes all the hard work earlier in the year worthwhile. I'm not holding out much hope of getting any more help with the weeding, it's harder work getting them to help than it is doing it myself.
DeleteI found an elephant hawk moth caterpillar in the garden last year, they are magnificent. My sweet peas were rubbish this year. Very feeble. In fact most things in my garden are quite feeble, the soil is very poor indeed and seems to be completely lacking in nutrients. How wonderful to have a son who's helpful. I live for that day!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't quite believe it's size, it was huge. You can't really tell in the photo, we should have put something next to it for a comparison. It's a shame the soil's so bad in your garden, but you'll soon have it in great shape if you feed it. My son's only helpful when he can tear himself away from his bed. I'm making the most of having him at home with me though as, hopefully, he'll be off to university soon.
DeleteI've never seen a elephant hawk moth or caterpillar. Rosebay willowherb grows through and around the log pile so fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteSadly my sweet peas didn't last long either.
As you say the goldfinches will be back. Flighty xx
Have a look around the rosebay willowherb, you'll see one there if anywhere, I couldn't believe how big it was. It's a shame about your sweetpeas too, mine didn't last long at all. I haven't seen any goldfinches yet but there were a couple of young bluetits in the garden today, it's a while since I've seen any.
DeleteWe didn't enjoy the benefit of our sweet peas either because of being away. Most had flowered and gone to seed by the time we got back from holiday. However, my daughter, who knows more about growing sweet peas than I do, has taken off the seed heads and trimmed the excess tendrils and we're getting a second lot of flowers!
ReplyDeleteI've done the same thing and a few straggly flowers have appeared. I've found it really spells the end for sweet peas once the seed pods form. It's a shame we were both away when they were flowering and that we missed them in all their glory.
DeleteI must say I'm astonished you can get teenagers up at all, never mind get them working! Respect!
ReplyDeleteWow, what an amazing caterpilla!
My sweet peas haven't opened yet.xxxx
Getting teenagers out of bed is a job in itself. The caterpillar was huge, I should have really put something else in the photo with it to show scale. Your sweet peas are late, I bet you'll have a lovely show going through autumn if you keep picking.
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