My Long Grass

I say grass, you say.....green? Here are a selection of grasses from my garden.

I've left quite a few wild patches in the lower back garden, where I have my vegetables.

You can find nice things in there like this 7 spot ladybird:

I get a lot of birds feeding from the seeds, including goldfinches and sparrows. Not so easy to get a photo of that.

In Defence of Flies

It took me until last year to realise it was okay to like flies. I'm not referring to the pretty flies like dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and the likes which are part of different orders of insects, I mean true Diptera flies like blow flies and craneflies (aka Daddy Longlegs - although I believe some use this name for the cellar spider/Pholcidae).

As you can tell from the photos I have been uploading in the last year, I've been insect spotting. The very back of the garden is a lovely sheltered habitat for insects and I've been growing native wildflowers like borage and letting vegetables go to seed for the flowers, which has kept my garden buzzing with all sorts of micro wildlife. From time to time I would see an attractive fly, pollinating my plants like any bee, and think hold on, I'm not supposed to like flies, they are gross!

Flies like this green blow fly on my, I think, Buddleia:

Or these little guys soaking up the Californian [poppy] sun:

This mad yoke is a noon fly with a jet black body and orange wings, just by the leaf of my yarrow:

This drone fly, Eristalis tenax, mimics a honey bee and pollinates just the same. Here it is on the leaf of my sunflower:

It's their relationship with shite that makes people dislike flies but we all produce it so we can't be too precious about it. Flies help break down waste and decomposing matter, and it's vital that someone does this. And I've just learned through my research that Beyoncé had a fly named after her in 2011. The fly, Scaptia beyonceae, which has a lovely golden patch at the tip of it's abdomen (fly arse) was discovered in 1981 but was unnamed until they were inspired by Beyoncé's bum. How unexpected and amusing. Look it up.

Photo Credit

Here are some more flies on my Calendula which, by the way, is still flowering in January:

Look at this lovely Tiger cranefly (the photo is regretfully out-of-focus):

I think if you are interested in insects and biodiversity, it is impossible to dislike flies. I feel so much better now that I have one less category on my list of aversions, which is quite short thankfully.


I have to admit that a bluebottle in the house still drives me crazy.

Dolycoris baccarum or Hairy Shield Bug or Sloe Bug

This shield bug has a distinct purple colour in the summer, which fades to brown for the winter. I took this photo mid September. These are common bugs but it was my first time noticing one. It is framed beautifully by my sunflower.

Pararge aegeria or Speckled Wood Butterfly

Spotted while I was looking for blackberries.

Palomena prasina or Common Shield Bug

An immature shield or stink bug taken on a Buddleia leaf on 1st August 2019.

Nephrotoma or Tiger Crane Fly

The glamorous cousin of the daddy long legs. Taken on a Buddleia leaf on 31st July 2019.

Calopteryx splendens or Banded Damoiselle

I took this photo on a hot sunny day at Kilcrea Friary, Cork on 2nd of August 2019.

Vegetables as Flowers

I had my finest specimens of Pak choi ever this year and they tasted...well I haven't a clue. In case you haven't read my recent posts, we bought a house last year so this is my first gardening season in our new home. We have just over half an acre of garden including a large secluded sheltered sunny area - perfect for gardening except for the septic tank. I have no idea if any part of the area is safe for growing veg. It's a big space but I'd only be guessing where the pipes run and I'm not brave enough. I am planning raised beds even though some sources recommend not putting any structures on the leach field of a septic tank. We'll see.

Anyway, my Pak choi. Big beautiful unblemished plants.

They got a lot bigger than that but annoyingly I neglected to take a photo of them before they flowered, which is what I want to talk about. The only reason I let them go to flower is because I was afraid to eat them and was enjoying looking at them so much. Here is a photo of my pak choi blooming it's long flower stalks full of small sunny yellow blooms:

Pak choi is a brassica so I was immediately reminded of my purple sprouting broccoli plants of yore. This is a photo of some of my 2015 plants:

One reason you might let a vegetable plant go to flower is to collect the seed that will eventually come from the flower. To do this, using broccoli as an example, you do not harvest all the broccoli but allow some of the heads to stay on the plant. Eventually the tightly packed purple heads will burst into flower. When the flower dies you will be left with a seed pod containing green seeds. Allow the pods to dry on the plant and the seed is now dark grey/black and is ready to be harvested. The seed can be stored and planted to grow new vegetables and it is at that level of gardening that you get supreme satisfaction.

Another reason to let veg flower is, as I have discovered this year, they are excellent hosts to beneficial insects. I noticed last week that my pak choi flowers are swarming with the well-known pollinators hoverflies. Here are some pics:

A darker coloured one:

And today I snapped numerous red soldier beetles, or Rhagonycha fulva. This is their mating season and I was happy to read that the adults feed on aphids while their larvae prey on slugs and snails. This might be the most perfect insect I've ever met!

I am now really excited to experiment with more vegetables to see what flowers they produce and what insects they bring to the garden. It is almost as thrilling as eating them.

First Ladybird of 2015

I couldn't get a better photograph without disturbing it, but here is my first sighting of a ladybird this year, nestled in my purple sprouting broccoli, hopefully feasting on any pests that the plant might be harbouring. It really seems apt to see this spotted beetle on the sunniest day of the year so far.