Aphids on my thyme

I was annoyed to discover an infestation of blackfly all over my thyme -- I actually thought it was caterpillar frass and wasted a considerable amount of time searching all over the pot to locate the culprit, before noticing that my fingers were all sticky with honeydew afterwards :-(

Of course this makes it rather difficult to use for culinary purposes -- I managed to salvage today's picking, at least to 'what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve over' standards (after all, they're not actually poisonous...) by soaking it in salt water. And it isn't doing the plant much good either; I'd assumed the resultant droop was due to drought, and was probably over-watering in consequence; the pot is rather small and very root-bound, and felt suspiciously light when lifted, my usual check for drying out.

The irony is that thyme oil is one of the remedies actually recommended for repelling aphid attack on other plants, but is obviously failing to deter the blackfly here in the least! Maybe if I do let the plant dry out that will starve them of the sap they crave....

1920s rhubarb pie

Rhubarb pie (from the Hot Sweets section of the 1920s booklet rather than the Cold Sweets section containing Rhubarb Fool, Rhubarb Moulds 1 and 2, etc) was very successful, and would have been even more successful and a good deal more refined if I had followed the recipe more precisely, and used short pastry and put in only half an egg when halving all the quantities! I added the extra half-egg at the last minute on the grounds that this didn't really count as liquid and would 'help it to set', but ought to have put it in the fridge as originally planned and used it for other purposes.

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( recipe )