[JohnParticipant]

Hi Charles

Thank you for this. I look forward to the April update but fear it may be accompanied by a photo of Homeacres in Easter snow!

[JohnParticipant]

Hello AJ

The waterlogging might well be temporary.

I went to my plot today to find lots of standing water and my greenhouse path, slightly sunken, was 2″ deep in water! My plot is on free draining pebble beds but, for the first time in 4 years, ground and weather conditions have caused the flooding. I know that all will be well very soon so my advice is to not judge the drainage on current conditions but chat to other plot holders and see what is like after a less wet spell.

I use 120cm wide beds and 60cm wide paths so skimming 5cm off the paths and putting the soil on the beds raises the soil on the beds 75cm above the paths. This may be effective and much easier and cheaper than constructing raised beds.

Good luck with the new plot.

John

[JohnParticipant]

The NHS and RHS have helpful articles on poisonous plants – try a Google search for ‘hemlock poison’. The list of harmful plants on the RHS site (https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=524) is daunting and it’s a wonder any of us gardeners are still alive.

I have no experience of hemlock itself and can’t comment on the time needed to kill it off completely. I can’t see that roots left in the soil would poison any other crops.

[JohnParticipant]

Thank you Charles.

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Vivian

Thank you for the input. I had been breaking off individual leaves but my more drastic pruning with secateurs was always into clean stem and, after four days away with no watering for over a week, there is no visible blight and I have lots of ripe and ripening tomatoes.

Perhaps even careful watering of the soil can add too much water to the atmosphere and provide conditions where blight is more likely to settle on the foliage.

[JohnParticipant]

I would tend to agree with Matthew and you can confirm this diagnosis if the same happens with other alliums, onions and leeks, in the same area.
The photos show onion white rot but white rot on garlic is much the same.

I have had onion white rot on these three crops over three years in different parts of my plot; it must endemic to my plot. I am lucky to have a new second plot and all three are growing well.

[JohnParticipant]

I bought my 25’x12’tunnel from Ferryman Tunnels in Crediton, Devon. Steph had suggested them to me. I did not get any of the extras that you mention but did get crop bars and thicker section tubes as my allotment is on a windy site in Exmouth.

Charles has an excellent discussion of poly tunnels in Learn > Articles

I have one 4′ opening door and one non-opening door, otherwise they are the same with a mesh (windbreak/scaffolding netting) cover. I have made frames for polythene inserts on the doors so I can have doors with all polythene, all mesh or half and half. Both doors have a 6″ gap above so there is always minimum ventilation and a route for insects. I can’t open and close every day so I vary the amount of ventilation according to the prevailing weather season.

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Eliza

In 2015 I sowed PSB Rudolph on 1/6 and last year on 8/6. We cropped this year from late February to late April. I sowed this year on 1/6. Charles’ Sowing Timeline suggests June for PSB, but I guess sooner rather than later.

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Paul

I use just a few drops in a 1 litre sprayer, enough to make it bubbly. I spray them each day for a few days and then less frequently as they die off. I guess they only need one spray but it is difficult to get them all. Perhaps the water pressure, even without the soap, has some effect.

This year I have had very few on the broad beans, due to November sowing and removal of the tops – as Charles says in his recent ‘pest’ video. I did have some on my globe artichoke stems but, as they were exposed and easy to spray, one spray did for them.

[JohnParticipant]

Hi MPG

I didn’t mean to put you off using the manure straight away. In my first year I used the FYM as it was as I didn’t have anything else and I was aware that it was the best way to get the soil working as per Charles’ method. Not so good for carrots, but for planting larger crops – potatoes, brassicas, squash, courgettes, etc. – it worked well in spite of some slug damage. It is only in subsequent years that I have had the luxury of being able to store for a year.

Good luck with your new project.

[JohnParticipant]

I made a heap early last August using alternating layers of 1. old woodchip (see photo in earlier post); 2. greens from allotment waste, green veg waste from home and green manure – mainly comfrey and phacelia, collected in a heap between February and July; 3. FYM delivered in November and stacked until August.

Proportions were roughly 1/3 of each and it was the best compost, spread in November, that I have ever made – I now have 6 foot broad beans as evidence – plants rather than individual beans!

I have found that stacking FYM in a heap 1 metre cubed for a year or so makes a massive difference to its use as a mulch; turning it would make it even better and I guess the same applies to horse manure.

[JohnParticipant]

Thanks for the positive message. Looking ahead, I wonder if, at the first sign of aphids, spraying the apples with a weak solution of soapy water (I use Ecover washing up liquid) would be a useful job for my Spring ‘to do’ list? I have used this successfully on blackfly on broad beans.

I remember my grandfather emptying the washing up water over his rose bushes at home – the aphids didn’t have a chance! Another family story is that he used to wheel a container full of ‘household liquid activator’ down to his allotment compost heaps each morning and I am certain that this is not all myth. I think the phrase was coined by Henry Doubleday; grandad was not into niceties – it was his pee-pot!

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Eliza and Charles

Thank you – I’ll leave a welcoming mat for the ladybirds and hope for the best. It seems that there is not much else I can do.

The trees were all trouble free last year so I wonder why the infestation is so bad this year. Any thoughts?

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Terry

I think you have one celeriac seedling.

[JohnParticipant]

Hi Hollie

I am just on 70 years old (so apologies for my jealousy!). Great plants.

[Author]

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