UPDATE April 14th 2016 - We have a new website promoting Liverpool!

UPDATE April 14th 2016 - We have a new website promoting Liverpool!
Please visit our snazzy new website!

Friday 27 April 2012

Fruit Flies - Control and Elimination


Are fruit flies getting to your fruit bowl before you are ......... then overtaking your home??? Most commonly, the answer yes. The fruit fly population is especially bothersome  with above normal seasonal rainfall.  There are many methods to control or to eliminate the fruit fly in your home and these easy steps will direct you to the easiest and most effective one without witnessing the second and third generations as they grow from infants to adults.  
The life cycle of the fruit fly is only 10 days and these little flies could be better named "nuisance flies".

HERE IS THE SECRET
  1. Remove all fresh fruit from your beautiful fruit bowl
  2. Store all fruit in the refrigerator
  3. Build the trap!!!!
  • Fill a glass jar 1/3 full with vinegar ( do not fuss about using expensive vinegar)
  • Add a wee squirt of dish soap
  • Add a quick burst of water from tap (to create a lot of bubbles)
  • Drizzle a wee bit of red wine over top (just as extra bait)
The vinegar (and wine of course) attracts them, the dish soap creates the bubbles and the bubbles are the actual trap. Throughout the day quickly stir the mixture to keep a nice head of bubbles on top. Within seconds the flies will be drawn to the glass, get trapped in the bubbles and you will have one-by-one less flies to trouble you.

   4. Place stoppers in all of the sink drains. This is a common nesting place - possibly due to    
        the dampness. I even leave a little water lying in the sink and catch a few unsuspecting
        flies there daily.
   5. It is not clear to me where else they nest, beside the sink drains, but I do continually
       spray my cupboards down with ammonia (or Windex) and wipe them with paper toweling.
       I am obsessed with the flies being inside my home and am often found spraying the flies
       with ammonia, which does not kill them - but it stuns them, they drop like flies which
       allows me to squish them with paper towelling. This is a very slow method of control and
       a bit disgusting.
   6. Keep doors tightly closed to prevent them from entering from outdoors and ensure that
      the windows are well screened. Wipe exterior door casings with ammonia to deter them
      from hanging around and waiting for the door to be opened.
   7. Remove all empty soda and beer cans from the house as well as any empty wine bottles.
   8. A gift of fresh flowers in the home is not necessarily a good gift when it also comes into
      your home with a family or two of fruit flies nestled in the petals of the flowers.
  9. Move the green recycle bin as far from the doors as possible. They love the green bin
      and for good reason, as yummy stuff is always in there.

Do not keep freshly cut flowers in the home as they attract flies and create a nesting spot for them.

DO NOT BE DISHEARTENED WHEN YOU OBSERVE THE NEXT GENERATION OVERTAKING YOUR HOME. FOR EVERY FLY THAT IS CAPTURED IN THE TRAP THAT IS ONE LESS THAT IS PROCREATING AND EVENTUALLY THE NUMBERS WILL DECREASE.

Wiki link to control fruit flies:
 http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fruit-Flies



Friday 20 April 2012

Liverpool International Theatre Festival 2012


Liverpool International Theatre
           Festival 2012
       The Eleventh Festival
                      


       


To all theatre lovers:
the upcoming LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, takes place from May 16-20th, 2012. The stage of the Astor Theatre will be hosting plays from around the world; competing to win top prize. Theatre lovers are also invited to attend theatre workshops, critiques of the plays and evening entertainment. Liverpool will be buzzing! Keep on top of the latest news by joining the Facebook group at the link below or by visiting www.litf.ca. This must-see event is already the talk of the town.

 

Join in for the fun, the entertainment, shows and workshop. This is a great event that only happens every two years.



FACEBOOK:

Friday 13 April 2012

Liverpool in Blossom

There is hardly a street corner or garden that does not burst with colour from early spring until late autumn in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Tulips and daffodils send out sprays of colour by the end of April, azaleas and rhododendrons follow throughout the month of May with summer blossoms blending into autumn shades and roses often still blooming into November.

Pine Grove Park bursts with colour in early May with the massive numbers of azaleas and rhododendrons, wild orchids and magnolia trees. In the summer a perfect place to enjoy an evening stroll is along the River Mersey, in the Centennial Park and Privateers Park, where it is edged with shrubs, evergreens and perennial flowers filling the air with scent and a kaleidoscope of colours giving way to the backdrop of the river.  Wildflowers of the season burst with showy colours, decorate the footpaths and nod their dancing heads along the sea shores. 




The provincial flower of Nova Scotia is the trailing arbutus, more commonly known as the delicate pink mayflower, blooming in the forest glades in early spring, signifies Nova Scotia's coming of age. As far back as 1820 the mayflower emerged as a native patriotic symbol, suggesting high achievement in the face of adversity. The humble evergreen from the native countryside blossoms amid the last remaining snows of winter.
It is a member of the Ericaceae or heath family, its botanical name is Epigaea repens, and it's related to such popular plants as blueberries and cranberries (Vaccinium, various species), rhododendrons and azaleas (Rhododendron), Bog rosemary (Andromeda), and wintergreen (Gaultheria), not to mention of course heaths and heathers (Erica & Calluna). Ericaceous plants like acid soil, which is commonly found throughout much of Atlantic Canada, and certainly here in Nova Scotia. Mayflower is a sub shrub, creeping along the ground in woodlands, (both conifer and hardwood), with woody stems and leathery, hairy leaves. Apparently it ranges as far west as Saskatchewan, and as far south as Florida, although it is sparse in many regions and listed as endangered or vulnerable in several American states.
Although we call it mayflower, it usually starts blooming as early as March on the south shore. Flower colour can be white, tinged with pink, or very pink, and the flowers are edible too. The fragrance is wonderful, sweet without being cloying, and it too varies in strength, possibly connected to the type of soil where it's found growing.





The Country Gardener:

Happy gardening Liverpool