Travel: Eastbourne, UK

I visited my cousin in Eastbourne this weekend. After a few rainy days in London, the sunshine and warm sea breeze were most welcome. The town is pretty small and easily walkable. The beach is pretty uncomfortable. It's made of large stones which aren't great for sitting, but the view is pretty great. There was a sailboat race on while we ate our fish and chips on the beach.

I'm always impressed with the color of the sea in England. Sometimes it looks down right tropical!

Garden Update: Blooming!

 My little borage plant sprung its first flower!!

Also been admiring these guys in the garden. They were a surprise, blossoming out of a pot that I thought was empty!

I fixed my bicycle!

I fixed my bicycle with the help of Sam from Micycle this weekend, and I have ridden it every day since then!

Garden Update: The lettuce is safe.

Even with all these pests eating the kale, beans, and strawberries, they've left all the lettuce alone. I don't understand it at all and it makes me wonder if the lettuce is no good to eat.

There's not a single hole in the lettuce leaves!

Finds: for Jenn

Jenn is an adventurous lady. She gave me a bear-claw shaped stone as a parting-from-NY gift. Saw these gold-dipped shark teeth necklaces on Etsy today and it reminded me of her!

From the shop TalaStone in California.

Garden Update: It's not snails.

So the egg shells did not work. I moved the strongest pot of kale inside in the hopes that whatever was munching through the leaves was an occasional visitor that would no longer be able to eat a free lunch with the plants inside.

 

Well, sadly I was wrong. Seems the lunchers have actually taken up residence  on the underside of the leaves. Most of the bugs are a slivery, white color, but this guy had spots.

 

I washed all of the bugs off when I discovered them, but alas, they seem to have come back in even great numbers! 

After a bit of internet research, it appears these are aphids. This article suggests sprtizing the leaves with a water/soap (like Dr. Bronner's) solution. That will be the next thing to try!

Garden Update: We've got holes.

 Someone or something is eating all my plants! It's really bumming me out because the bugs seem to enjoy all my favorite vegetables as much as I do.

They have already destroyed the three giant white bean plants I had going and now they have started into the Kale. I was advised if it was slugs, I should put crushed up egg shells around the plants. The shells are too pointy for the slugs to walk on, so they won't cross the barrier.

Lets hope it works!