d(erbyshire) o(pen) a(rts)

We opened up on a miserable drizzly morning, so it wasn't much fun sitting near an open door all day. (Note to self - wear warmer clothing tomorrow!)

We had a steady trickle of visitors all day, the first having come at 11 as we opened the doors.

People who had been to our previous studio last year found us again, and we also had newcomers.

For the 4 of us, it was a chance to relax and enjoy showing off some of our creations.

With two more days to go, we should get many more visitors.

Garden delights and our weekend exhibition

No time to take pictures today.

Last night, as I was cycling home from the "Woolly Wednesday" knitting session at the Art Room it was raining.

So naturally the traffic lights near the library failed to detect a single cyclist wishing to turn right onto the more major road. After two failed sequences I just went at the time the traffic opposite got to go.

Then there were the drivers who suddenly did u-turns in front of me and came to a dead stop, twice in one 10 minute ride!

But best of all, the garden got some rain, and the temperature dropped further.

Last night it dropped back to not much above freezing, quite a contrast with the 25C in the shade at the weekend.

This is the week of the Chelsea Flower Show, which is getting lots of coverage on TV.

This year Rachel Carter, a local artist, has a stand. She involved some local people to help out with willow weaving at the Art Room over the past couple of months.

Tomorrow, we transform the Art Room for the Bank Holiday weekend as four of us take part in Derbyshire Open Arts.

More on that later....

Garden pests - gooseberry sawfly

We now have 6 gooseberry bushes scattered around our garden.

I forget now whether there are three varieties or four.

One we've had for years, and some of these are self/bird seeded plants some of which we have moved to more appropriate positions.

A couple of years ago we wanted something new, and had a recommendation to buy Lancashire Lad and Dan's Mistake.

We got in touch with Rougham Hall nursery which holds the national collection of gooseberries, but were a bit late for that year's list, as it was early December.

They supplied Lancashire Lad immediately, but we had to wait until last year for Dan's Mistake.

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on the edge of the strawberry bed looking towards these newer bushes. Although still very small several fruit have set.

But what caught my eye was the infestation of gooseberry sawfly. We usually have problems with these little caterpillars stripping the leaves off the bushes much later on around the time they have finished fruiting.

So now every other day I go down the garden in the late afternoon, armed with a pair of particularly slim nosed tweezers and a plastic tub containing a strong salt solution.

Today I didn't find many (10-4-2-15-19-1), but had to inspect each bush/cordon from head to toe.

Now comes the fun bit!

Have you ever tried, when not feeling 100% (I have just had a very lengthy bout of the usual voice loss virus) , to photograph one of the most perfectly camouflaged garden pests?