More concoctions and Peace

Early Monday morning and the storm clouds were rolling in.

Amy had stayed here for the night and took three hours to drive to work in Camberwell !!
She needed coffee and chocolate by then!

Our inside workers were able to continue.
The ceiling batts went in.

They are made from 80% recycled glass and wool and are fire resistant ( that's always good to know!)

The electricians were here too. 

We only had 8mm of rain on Monday morning but  all the new plantings had also been watered on Sunday, so today was the perfect day to put some mulch around them to try to keep some moisture in the ground........my job.
 I only got about a third of the way around so will keep going tomorrow.

It 's been heartening to see all the new shoots coming from those trees that had been cut back. Many of them were back to ground level.
 They may not grow as abundantly as before but at least it will be some greenery. 

And the burnt bark is staring to peel away from the trees that were burnt but remained alive.

Nature truly is quite remarkable.


Today was back to all hands on deck.

We have another new foal in the mothers and babies paddock.
 Peanut and Chips and their Mums are still there. We must find out who their new friends are.

Three baby willy wagtails.
 I have no idea how there can be enough room for them all in their little egg cup sized nest.
Bill used his camera for this photo. Mum and Dad were not happy.

The earwig experiment hasn't completely solved the problem on my beloved hollyhocks.
They may be making the large holes but I think the white flies are another big problem out there. I have noticed clouds of them around the plants especially on warmish days.

Tonight I am going to make up a concoction using garlic, chilli , ginger, grated soap and water.
 I will spray it on a few of the plants first and wait for 24 hours to see what happens before I spray all the holly hocks.( just in case I kill the lot!)

And I will roll up some newspaper houses for the earwigs to hide in during the day.( I wonder if it should be damp?)

This beautiful Peace rose bush is blooming it's head off.

I have been watching keenly to see which of our roses are unchanged and which have reverted to the root stock.
Amazingly, it's looking pretty good so far.