Squishing Aphids

This is H.R. Mount Fuji-Toad (don't ask)

He(?) is the latest addition to the aphid/mosquito eating gold fish

I squish aphids or shake 'em into the fish pond

A magic concoction of dish soap, chili pepper and a sprinkling of aphids in the blender was made into a spray for my plants with aphids. This was always followed by blending up a strawberry daiquiri for myself - I figured the alcohol in the strawberry daiquiris would disinfect the blender - hiccup.
Hmm I wonder if Saskatoon berries would make a tasty daiquiri stay tuned for that one when the berries are ready for picking.

Ladybugs To The Rescue

I am proud to say the Town of Langford (where I live) is attacking aphids with Ladybugs and not pesticides - Hurray! "Hughes expects the initial ladybug batch to last a few weeks, depending on predation from birds and wasps. It’s a relatively cheap method of pest control, with 35,000 ladybugs going for $87."

I would like to try the ladybug/ladybird (depending where you hail from) solution, too.

Daiquiri sipping deck view from the Garden Brae

This year I have not been watering the garden so as to study what grows well without using up water. Even here, on the West Coast, we have watering restrictions. Less water has created more stressed plants with aphids. Which equated alot more blender potions and therefore a lot more daiquiris...

View of Douglas-fir above said daiquiri sipping head on sundeck

the hyphen is because the Douglas-fir is not a truly a fir tree

... A lot more daiquiris resulted in an episode of stumbling boisterous tree hugging inspired by reading Beverly Nichols' Merry Hall whereby he states the interesting contradiction that dead wood feels warm while live wood feels cold. This experiment must be carried out on warm evening. Hence, dear, gentle neighbours who may have witnessed/heard my groping and stroking of trees in the night, be not alarmed. I am not crazy - but merely a tipsy gardener.

The moral of this story is: Squishing aphids with my fingers and feeding them to the gold fish is now my weapon of choice - sans-blender concoctions pour moi.

Ornamental Hermit for the 21st Century

A Hermit on "my" Hill? Sure, it would be great. He, or why not she, would have wireless Internet for their laptop and would also be kitted out with the latest and greatest camp gear from Canadian Tire. I mean, after all, workers' rights have improved a bit since the 18Th century. The Hermit could eat up some of the destructive invasive alien introduced critters that overrun the place - grey squirrels, eastern cotton tailed rabbits and American bullfrogs. And after eating hearty eliminating alien meals, the Hermit can get to work at the endless task of pulling broom (Cytisus scoparius). I hate that stuff and pull it every chance I get - about 20 a week - following a broom pull strategy. I dislike broom so much I won't even show a picture of it.

Would my Hermit be territorial? Would I be bailing him/her out of jail for warring in barroom brawls with the Skirt Mountain (AKA Bare (Bear) Mountain) Hermit? Well I am sure it would only occur every payday when Hermits gets tippled at one of the local pubs in the area. And since Hermit paydays are once every 5 years, I don't expect this to be a big problem.

http://www.hermitary.com/faqs.html

So, yes, a Hermit for my Garden Brae it is. Some nice, old, wisdomful ancient who talks to the wind in the forest, who is a wizard with a dowser for divining water (sure to come in handy with global warming on its way here) and who would dine on rabbit and deer to keep them from feasting on my flowers.

What has this all to do with Genius Loci in my garden design? Blogging it down is like keeping a journal on the discoveries and thoughts about what it is like to live here. The conclusions that emerge from the blogging will hopefully reveal the Genius Loci.