We have a large mounded anthill in the garden by the wildlife pond ... we often see birds ... particularly blackbirds it seems, 'anting' that is, rubbing themselves on the mound ... annointing themselves with formic acid from the ants ... apparently it deals with ticks and fleas etc which will have been increasing while they've been brooding on their nests.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi everyone. Yes I’m here Fairy, but still recovering strength from Hubby’s trip to Canberra for his Oncology visit. 😡. We are hoping we can do it locally next time as the specialist has decided to visit our local hospital every couple of months. That’ll make a big difference to us.
Good plan to wait a while @Fairygirl. We have ants here @Liriodendron and the hoopoes and green woodpeckers enjoy them. If I find them in pots or coming in the house I resort to essential oil of cloves. One wee bottle in 5 litres of water and then pour into pots. Just a drop of it neat where I see them entering the house but haven't needed any this year yet.
Hot already here. OH has taken the dogs out for an early spin before it gets too jolly hot to move and they'll get another after dinner tonight. meanwhile we have the shutters down on the sunny sides of the house with ventilation open and we're keeping them closed all day in the annex where the dogs sleep at night.
Apart from watering it's way too hot and dry for gardening so I shall do a coat of paint on the strips I bought to do door trims in Possum's room. The previous owners re-configured the whole upstairs but separated and then divorced before doing all the finishing so trims and skirting boards needed in 3 rooms.
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)."
Hi all from France in a heatwave! 40° you'd love it @Hostafan1 For all of us here running around in the restaurant and kitchen, we're not so enamoured! Better than rain. 🙄😁
Extremely busy still, and everyone seems to love us, thankfully we still keep getting 5 🌟 reviews on Google etc. despite the pressure. I've got a great team around me here.
Anyway, that's all I've got time for, I do hope you're all well, I will try and catch up later.
“Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
Hello all. Hot and sunny here but we too had single figures overnight, @Fairygirl - outdoor thermometer said 4.7, but I'm not sure whether to believe it. It was certainly pretty cool, but that seems very low for August, even though Autumn in Ireland is supposed to start this month...
We'd never had ants indoors before either. Thanks very much for the suggestions; I'd read about essential oils (peppermint is supposed to work as well as cloves, @Obelixx), and your non-chemical spray also looks good, @DovefromAbove, if I can get it delivered over here. I must set up a "virtual UK address", which apparently circumvents the reluctance of A****n and others to deliver here. It's legal, too... Meanwhile the baking powder seems to have worked around the skirting boards. I guess the flying period will soon be over, anyway.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Very hot and sticky night and no real improvement today with a lot of cloud it will hold the humidity. I had to go & sit at the bottom of the garden at 3am this morning just to cool down a bit. I love the support a memory foam mattress gives but they are no good when it's hot with the GC's here I can't sneak off to the spare room to sleep there so we are suffering. I confess we used the sprinkler in the garden last night to cool it down as much as to water the plants. Anyone want to trade some heat & humidity for some rain? - Thought not but worth the ask.
I think that normally he’d hate London, but he had a new baby grandson arrive there during lockdown and I don’t believe he’s seen him yet ... you might be able to twist his arm for a few days 😆
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good plan to wait a while @Fairygirl. We have ants here @Liriodendron and the hoopoes and green woodpeckers enjoy them. If I find them in pots or coming in the house I resort to essential oil of cloves. One wee bottle in 5 litres of water and then pour into pots. Just a drop of it neat where I see them entering the house but haven't needed any this year yet.
Hot already here. OH has taken the dogs out for an early spin before it gets too jolly hot to move and they'll get another after dinner tonight. meanwhile we have the shutters down on the sunny sides of the house with ventilation open and we're keeping them closed all day in the annex where the dogs sleep at night.
Apart from watering it's way too hot and dry for gardening so I shall do a coat of paint on the strips I bought to do door trims in Possum's room. The previous owners re-configured the whole upstairs but separated and then divorced before doing all the finishing so trims and skirting boards needed in 3 rooms.
us here running around in the restaurant and kitchen, we're not so enamoured! Better than rain. 🙄😁
Extremely busy still, and everyone seems to love us, thankfully we still keep getting 5 🌟 reviews on Google etc. despite the pressure. I've got a great team around me here.
Anyway, that's all I've got time for, I do hope you're all well, I will try and catch up later.
We'd never had ants indoors before either. Thanks very much for the suggestions; I'd read about essential oils (peppermint is supposed to work as well as cloves, @Obelixx), and your non-chemical spray also looks good, @DovefromAbove, if I can get it delivered over here. I must set up a "virtual UK address", which apparently circumvents the reluctance of A****n and others to deliver here. It's legal, too... Meanwhile the baking powder seems to have worked around the skirting boards. I guess the flying period will soon be over, anyway.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.