although I have no pets at the moment , over the years I have had dogs and the odd cat. All of which lived to a ripe old age. In all of that time, i can never remember any of them eating random plants in the garden -apart from a bit of grass as a digestif. Have our four legged friends become stupid?. Is there something lacking in that dried stuff they're fed?
I am more careful with where I put pots of lilies now and have no plans to have any lilies in the ground now that I've learned they are poisonous to any cat that brushes past the pollen and then swallows it while washing but otherwise, our gardens, now and in the past, have always had stuff that could be noxious to us, children and pets but none, so far, has been daft enough to ingest them.
I've just been reading about what not to give to hens - still planning to adopt a few - and apparently green potatoes and avocadoes do them no good at all and asparagus makes their eggs taste funny.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
No, I didn't. The article I was reading is on a USA site which has useful info about hen house design and dimensions and so on. Found it when I was lookig at bulding one or buying a kit and then realised we have a donkey shed in the potager which is the old donkey paddock. Doh! Anyway, now I get regular updates on all sorts of things USA people need to know about small-holdings, some of which is really quaint and some which is bizarre.
As you might expect really. Good look with those brambles. I haven't yet found a way to motivate the undergardener to tackle the ones in the big paddock.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
although I have no pets at the moment , over the years I have had dogs and the odd cat. All of which lived to a ripe old age. In all of that time, i can never remember any of them eating random plants in the garden -apart from a bit of grass as a digestif. Have our four legged friends become stupid?. Is there something lacking in that dried stuff they're fed?
I used to have an especially thick spaniel that like to chew on plants as a puppy. He never ate any but would sit under a hydrangea happily pruning branches off. He felled a few nice house plants too. He did grow out of it luckily. He also had to be stapled back together after chasing a cat in my parents' garden and running chest first into something sharp and solid. Another very expensive reason why dogs aren't the best solutions to cats in gardens...
I found two more elephant hawk moth caterpillars today. One while weeding and one crossing the road while we were out walking. Both the standard olive brown colour.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
22 weevils tonight. I found quite a glut of them on the eryngium and potato plants this time. My technique of going over everything twice paid off well again as I found plenty the second time around too.
All in all though a very pleasant evening to be out in the garden. The owls are being noisy and one even perched on the gable of the neighbours roof nicely lit up by the street light. I also got really close to this little thief. He probably heard the squeeks of my gimp suit and thought I was a friend.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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The hawkies are looking good. Hope you get pix of them when they finally emerge.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
In all of that time, i can never remember any of them eating random plants in the garden -apart from a bit of grass as a digestif.
Have our four legged friends become stupid?. Is there something lacking in that dried stuff they're fed?
I've just been reading about what not to give to hens - still planning to adopt a few - and apparently green potatoes and avocadoes do them no good at all and asparagus makes their eggs taste funny.
As you might expect really. Good look with those brambles. I haven't yet found a way to motivate the undergardener to tackle the ones in the big paddock.