Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Pics at last!




Finally some pics - the patch looks so bare now since I've ripped up all the summer fruiting stuff. time for a clean canvas!
Here are the peas and ....carrots!













The other beds are a mix of stuff. Can't wait for the 'weeks ahead' photos. They grow so quick in Blogland!


Today Hubby sprayed poison (yes I know it's dreadful) around the house before the rains come and the millipedes do too. For those of you who aren't familiar with Portugese Millipedes (and I'm sure they're fine in Portugal) these introduced little blighters emerge after the first rains in plague proportions.
We have tried every natural trap there is, and sure pots of water with little lights etc work - but when you're talking about millions of the things coming in at once those remedies are a pee in the in the ocean. We literally need a moat. They have been getting worse and worse over the last few years. Last year we woke up every morning to our hallway and toilet walls that were black and wriggling. I kid you not. They form a mat of bodies over every surface and release a pungent odour in the oil they secrete. It meant about an hour of vacuuming every morning before we could start the day - and the house reeking for hours after from the smell of the bodies you'd walked on, and the full vaccuum cleaner which had blown out that smell throughout the house.
We finally sprayed last year around the perimeter and it meant that we just had to sweep up the piles and piles of them every few days. I filled our kitchen bin to the top with bodies in one morning.

Can you tell I really dislike these things?!

On a brighter note - I have promised the Munchkins a sleep out on the trampoline tomorrow night. It's a full moon or close enough to for a short bushwalk, and likely to be one of the few dry and warmish nights left of the year so we're taking advantage of there being no school the next day (Yay for holidays!) and making it fun. Might be some pics if we're lucky enough to spot some interesting animals.

3 comments:

Karen said...

Can you tell me what you sprayed for the millipedes? We get them too and I hate the little blighters! What a mess to clean every morning... soo annoying!!

Thanks in advance!
Karen

Cwm Goch Chronicles said...

HI Karen - Sorry for the late reply, I've been a little busy.

We sprayed 'Coopex' which is a chemical that sounds something like Pyrethrum, but isn't, pyrtherum..or..I don't know.

Anyway - you can get Coopex from most hardware shops, maybe even Bunnings. Even nurseries in the Hills have them.

Terrible to use a chemical, but since you have them too I know you understand!

cherry said...

I Sympathise with you guys but it would seem these nuisances as the Agricultural Department likes to call them rather than a PEST just can't be got rid of. However the Nematode is my next bet. I wish all these people who suffer with these nightmare pests would get a task force up and start rallying the Government Departments/Agricultural Department to start calling these nuisances, pests. They say they are not a health risk so therefore not a pest. You know what, I am having mental health problems coping with these pesty bugs and also physical health issues with having to use poisonus sprays to rid them for a day or so, something of which i am not experienced in handling. If we all got together maybe the Agricultural Dept could do the nematode solution itself in areas where required. They also say the millipedes are migrating....my ass (sorry) they are being carried to the next suburb in mulches and building materials and this needs to stop as well before the whole of Perth is known as THE BLACK HOLE. And how lovely for our tourism. I have had enough...can't take anymore...Someone needs to look at this problem in more depth. Big Breathe, slow breathe Cherry, HELP!