Plant swap
What we are harvesting: spinach, cca kale, wet garlic (it's got rust so we've had to harvest early to avoid spreading it to the soft neck garlic), five different varieties of lettuce, peas, turnips, spring cabbage, rocket, mibuna, mizuna, radishes and garlic chives.
Looking forward to: new potatoes, broad beans, more peas and kohl rabi.
Hmmm what do you do with thirty or so turnips? I've found a good Italian recipe for turnip, rice and parmesan soup, but I think at best we'll be able to have that twice. Still there are worse things than too many neeps.
We've spent the day sorting things out for Gardeners' World Live. We've got all sorts of goodies to give away. Nicotiana sylvestris, Amaranthus caudatus var viridis, heirloom toms (clearly in need of immediate re-homing, aubergines (few so be quick), Onopordons, penstemons, Carex comans (babies but are quick to get settled), annual Rudbeckias and lots of species Verbascums (don't get too excited mainly V. nigra and V. sinnuatum). Oh and one lone pineapple sage. It nice to gather together all our babies and get them ready for new homes. Joe, Geoff and I will be around all of Wednesday so come and say hi (oh and bring lots of lovely plants to swap. I really need some Tagetes for growing tomato collection. I didn't sow nearly enough, so if anyone has any spare?).
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
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Hi Alys
I think you're doing ok with your harvest so far. We've had plenty of rhubarb but living in the middle (well almost) of the rhubarb triangle it’s to be expected. Got some lettuce that's ready to use and then it's a race between early summer cabbage and turnips to be ready for harvesting first. Early potatoes got caught by frost last week in May are recovering well but I suspect its means a couple of extra weeks waiting for those first new potatoes of the year. I think they really are the best of the whole year.
Got only a dozen tagetes plants but loads of Marigolds. Will they do the same job if planted amongst tomatoes?
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Hello Alys
Thanks for your response on 06/06/08. Unfortunately, the technology miracle failed to materialise ... and you gave Dr Claire such a great introduction!
Could you try again, or send me a link or web address for Dr Claire.
By the way, what do you sing to your tomatoes?
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Hey Hampshire weed
Claire said that it is most likely to be Viburnum beetle. The beetle appear in May?June and start to munch. The holes are eaten between the veins and then the remaining matter turns yellow and falls off. It'sn the larvae which feed on the plant. I have no idea how you get rid of it organically. Am seeing Claire tomorrow at GWL so will ask her what to do about it.
At the moment I'm singing along to Vetiver as I'm off to see them play at a gig tonight. That or I'm revisiting my teenage love of Joni Mitchell, but I'm a bit embarassed to admit that I'm belting out a ' Case of you'.
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Hi Alys.
I watched your segement on hollyhocks and rust with great interest. Through my own 'experimentation' and sheer luck I have found that watering hollyhocks with a diluted commericial seaweed solution and water seems to actually kill or retard a lot of pustules on infected leaves. I'd be interested to see what result trials would come up with for this 'teatment'.
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Hello Hampshireweed
Dr Claire here. Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Ran into a slight technical hitch on Friday afternoon and have not been near a computer since.
Anyway, as Alys says, I'm pretty certain that viburnum beetle is the cause of your problem. This pest is definitely active at the moment as I saw same cracking examples on my way back to the car park last night at Gardeners' World Live! If your viburnum looks as though it's been reduced to lace, this is your culprit!
Most of the damage is done in May and June, so it's worth removing any grubs you find on the underside of the foliage. They're creamy-yellow with black spots. If they've been and gone, check your plant again in about a month's time for greyish-brown beetles about 5-6mm long. They will have a nibble too, but won't do nearly as much damage as the larvae.
Picking off the grubs and adults one by one is the best method of control. The alternative is to cut your plant right back to the ground in the autumn to remove the overwintering eggs. These are laid in the bark of the stems and so by doing this, you would be breaking the beetle's life cycle. Burn or bin your infested prunings.
Good luck!
Dr Claire
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Hello Dr Claire
Very much appreciate your time and trouble. Will follow your advice. Hopefully, these over-zealous munchers will not start snacking on my other Viburnums. Are they partial to V. tinus or will any variety do?
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Hello Hampshireweed
Bad news, I'm afraid. These little blighters won't stop at V. tinus. They will go for our native guelder rose (V. opulus) and wayfaring tree (V. lantana). So if you have either of these two deciduous specimens in your garden, watch out!
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Any ideas on how to kill off and then stop little black fruit flies from living in my compost bin? We get a cloud of them flying at us every time we take the lid off and I'm getting fed up with them!
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