Some real little grubs!

So the first unwanted visitor we had to the garden came some time ago but thought I'd share the photo with you. We had found a whole load of slugs that afternoon and I thought I had dosposed of them all - but obviously not. When I went out that evening I found this one:

It really was amazing to watch it - you could see his mouth working and the lettuce leaf actually disappearing whilst you watched! Now slugs are one of the only things that make my skin really crawl but it was incredible to watch.

More recently I found these unwanted little grubs!

I don't really mind them and I know I was fascinated by them as a child and so too are my little girls. They find it very funny when they crawl all over their hands and arms. When I looked at this pot there were 10 caterpillars on it and they had decimated the nasturtium but hadn't touched the geranium.

Also note the black dots around the base of the pot - caterpillar poo!

Is the scent in the geranium leaves a deterrent? I don't know that for a fact but it certainly looked that way to me. Now, once we'd had a play with them and gently put them back on the leaves I carried on with other jobs in the garden with a reminder to the girls to 'play gently with them'. Of course it was only a matter of time before I heard a cry from Maia 'Mummy, Cass has squashed one!'. Cassia's not afraid of anything but still hasn't grasped that certain things will succumb to the pressure of her little thumbs and fingers. Now have you ever tried to get squashed caterpillar off hands? It is so sticky and took forever. She understands the word gentle but I guess we just have to work on the action!

Other news in the garden includes more beans

and more courgettes.

But what I'm really excited about is the tomatoes! I was getting quite worried that with the lack of sun we're experiencing that all the green tomatoes would stay that colour, but I saw the first blush of colour yesterday so fingers crossed there's still time.

Finally, after what seems like a really long wait, we had something approaching edible carrots - baby carrots for sure but still big enough to bother with.

And last, but not least, the apple tree. We inherited a building site of a garden that included an old apple tree that was half buried in rubble and soil. It hadn't had any pruning, care or love for many years and we didn't know if it would even survive the excavation. It did, the blossoms came and now the apples. A lot of the apples are falling to the ground already mouldy and eaten by wasps and many still on the tree have large black/brown scabs on them - I'm sure there's a proper name but I don't know anything about apple trees yet. However, there are the occassional ones good enough to eat and both of my little girls love their apples!