Green and country in the city 16 June

I had an update on my computer which upset my antivirus so I had to download it and then reinstall. Problems with reinstallation which meant I haven't been able to use my home computer for over 2 weeks, so one big update!

• Got French marigolds for conservatory - I find these most successful at keeping aphids out of the conservatory.
• My neighbour, Pat, says 4  fox cubs in her garden. She's only see one but Winston has seen 4. They are carried along the wall at the back by one of the parents. I've seen the adults with one cub since I spoke to Pat, but only the adults in my garden. The last few mornings I have found bits of clothing etc, probably used by the club to practise its prey-catching skills.
• Have got rid of 2 large scented leaved geraniums in conservatory as they were too big. Have taken one cutting, but I will cut this back every year. I do try to learn from my mistakes!
• The winds we have had recently have knocked over the plum trees in their pots - so a few more plums lost. Will it be yet another year with no ripe plums?
• My bird of paradise plant has 2 flowers this year!
• Been having early autumn raspberries, loganberries, wild strawberries, one ordinary strawberry, red currant (one bush just finishing) and blackcurrants (just starting) with my breakfast cereal every morning.
• Last Saturday got 4 lots of horse shit on my cycle ride for the compost.
• Only 14 gooseberries from the 3 plants in pots but enough from the little bush I have had for years for a large crumble and more to come.
• Wednesday evening at 9.40 pm saw what I am pretty sure was a bat flittering over the garden. I have quite a lot of evening primrose - not yet in flower - which is good for night insects, therefore good for bats. Want to find out what else is good for night insects too.
• There has been a comma butterfly in the garden all this week.
• There have been more bees in the garden than there have been for several years - is this because of what I have done, or that my next door neighbour's garden has been completely cleared so nothing for them there?

Marigolds for whitefly

Spent the day with my friend in south London. We went to the county fair in Morden - a very suburban county fair (not like the Royal Cornwall of my childhood!) but nice in the sunshine and the demonstration with suffolk punches (horses) was interesting. From over 300,000 before the first world war their numbers plummeted over the decades, but recently have built up to over 500. They are as rare as pandas!

To the garden centre on the way back and I got some marigolds for the conservatory to ward off white fly.

I also got a pot of bidens. This is a yellow trailing plant. Some years ago I got a pink metal watering can which had a slight leak. I've just got round to drilling some holes in it to use as a pot and wanted something trailing. I wasn't able to find a trailing tomato.

French marigolds to see off conservatory green fly

Several years ago I got greenfly in the conservatory and couldn't get rid of them until I tried french marigolds which worked like a charm. Now every year I buy a strip of 6 french marigolds and put 2 or 3 in the conservatory and the rest in the garden where the slugs eat them. This year in B&Q and Homebase they only had sets of 12 marigolds for sale, and giving up 9 or 10 marigolds for slug food seemed a bit much. I didn't buy any, hoping that not having had any greenfly in the conservatory for years would mean for a year at least I would be OK. Then last weekend I had taken some puppetry books I no longer wanted for the Puppet and Toy Theatre Guild stall at the May Fayre at the Actors Church in Covent Garden (every year lots of Punch & Judy Professrs come to this "fayre" to celebrate the first recorded sighting of Punch in England - in Pepys' diary). On a residents association plant stall were some french marigolds, so I brough 2 at £2 each. This was about the price of 12 at the DIY store, but it was money for a good cause and no waste so I didn't mind. I put them in a small planter today. I also put the mint into a slightly bigger plot. Was pleased to see 2 bumblebees feeding from my wysteria.