Monday 1st March 2021 - Cheesed Off and Could be the First

I’m feeling a bit cheesed off. Let me explain. We have had a greenhouse for nearly all our married life, first where we lived in Bucks and now in our Overstrand garden. It has been my practice to clean it each February, prior to fumigating to kill of unwanted bugs. The weather has been rather pleasant, so I set to removing the plants and then soaping and hosing the panes of glass. Once the interior was reasonably dry, the pots and tubs were returned to be protected for a little longer - after the risk of frosts they will come out into the garden. Over the years I have used a number of different proprietary fumigators, most of which have said to remove the plants before lighting the fumigator. But with bugs probably within the pots, I have always left the plants in the greenhouse. I have never had a problem…..that was until this year. When I went to vent the greenhouse the morning after fumigating all looked well, but the following morning alarm bells rang when I saw the onion seedlings had turned grey. Looking further at the geraniums and fuchsias, I saw a similar story. So this is why I am feeling cheesed off. My fault of course but I won’t use this brand again and after spending time picking off the grey leaves I can only hope they will produce more shoots. Other plants such as the agapanthas, lilies and begonias are still dormant – fingers crossed they will be okay. As for the onions, well they are a right-off but fortunately I made two further sowings of seeds after I had pricked out the first batch of seedlings, so hopefully they will come on and provide us with a crop of onions later this year.

At this time of year, excitement builds on Norfolk Butterflies and Moths, a Butterfly Conservation Group Facebook page, as certain types of butterflies emerge from hibernation. Recently, members have posted photos of brimstones, commas and peacocks, spotted in their gardens or out on their daily exercise. In the past we have seen a peacock in our garden as early as January but nothing this year. However, walking with Barney the other afternoon, something fluttered on the field edge – a small tortoiseshell. I cautiously took my camera from its case and started taking shots, gradually zooming in further and further until I captured the photo below. Back home, I posted this on Norfolk Butterflies and Moth’s Facebook Page. I felt uplifted, that my photo was the first small tortoiseshell to be recorded. I am not saying; it was an actual first for the county as I would imagine there must be more unrecorded sighting elsewhere, but it certainly gave me a boost after the greenhouse fiasco.