Clinically depressed Courgettes and Ruby Cat

Hmmm, well, courgettes eh?  First of all, they had a problem with their leaves which suffered from mildew.  This was cleared up with some hard pruning and getting them into a better ventilated position, the next problem has been them topping themselves:

So, what you have their is a courgette flower that has lost the will to live and shuffled off this mortal coil.  Initially this was caused by pollen beetles, which are relatively harmless, but they scoff all the pollen they can get their little mitts on.  However, we managed to get rid of them and now the downturn in the weather seems to have put the bees off visiting, so no pollination is going on.  Sigh.

Meanwhile, I had to nip off to the garden centre today to buy some mesh to put over (my son) Big Al's peas (of which he is inordinately proud).  This was because when I got home from work yesterday evening and wandered out with a beer to take a stroll round the beds, I saw a huge turd nestling in with the peas and earth kicked up all over the place.  Now, the dogs are athletic but there is only one culprit for using a planting bed like a giant litter tray:





Yeah, Ruby Cat.   She also seems to have buried the just peeping through carrots.  We shall have to see if the mesh is effective.  Rubes came to us from a rescue centre and she is quite a character.  She is also, possibly, the most expense rescue cat in history.  To be fair, that was my fault.  When we got her she had a month's insurance left.  As she was being kept inside (as per instructions) I didn't think to extend the insurance.  First day she was let out she stopped eating - one week later she is in emergency vet hospital, sans insurance.  Yeah - ouch, my poor bank account.  She's worth it though, if only to watch her drink water:

Yep, she will only drink running water from the tap.  Anyway, while I was at the garden centre I cheated a bit and picked up some brocolli plants (as we were too late to grow them from seed).  So they have gone in this afternoon and we shall see how we go along.

There is only one animal left to mention, Bix:

Bix is Amber's older brother and has been adapting himself to being the elder statesman in the house.  Doesn't stop her sleeping on top of him though.  Both Bix and Amber are currently piled up on my feet, as it's their dinner time.  Guess I better go feed them.