Monday 21 September 2009

Allotmenticity 21-09-09

It's been a while since I've had chance to write up the goings on down at No87. Suffice to say I'm really busy at the moment but I did manage to get down over the weekend and get some tidying up done.

The Sweetcorn is all finished and I've frozen the ones I couldn't eat straight away. Best to top and tail and leave the outer leaves on.

The French Beans are also finished and were really tasty this year. Again quite a lot in the freezer.

I'm having a MAJOR problem with Whitefly on the Brassicas. Clouds of them flying up when I brush past. I've been reading up on ways to deal with them and the best one seems to be a spray of Insecticidal Soap. Evidently if you buy Liquid Detergent you can make it up yourself.

Has anybody tried this, and if so which Liquid Detergent did you use?

It's been a strange year for pests and problems. I've had Lily Beetle, which I sprayed quite successfully and reported them to the RHS Lily Beetle website.
The French Marigolds limited the Blackfly to 2 Broad Bean plants, and although some of the Potato leaves went suspiciously like Blight they're OK.
Growing the small rounded Carrots in my containers kept the Carrot Fly at bay and worked really well. I plan to expand on that next year.
The Garlic crop suffered from mould on the thick-necked varieties, but the later ones were fine, but my Japanese Onions were very disappointing. I'm digging Horse Manure into the raised beds over winter to try and give them a boost.
I'm also going to try Green Manure where the Spuds are going next year. Has anyone any thoughts on this idea?

I've decided to go for a petrol strimmer. The rechargeable one is OK but doesn't last long enough and really struggles with deep grass. And especially since my neighbour has decided to vanish, leaving a forest of weeds, I need something more drastic.
I've been looking at a Ryobi 30cc model. Anyone had experience of this make?

Well that's about it, a satisfying win for The Reds yesterday gives us bragging rights for the moment.

The Captain.

3 comments:

Matron said...

I did try a green manure one year, I found that you have to get it into the ground early enough to get some good growth before Winter. The round carrots worked well for me too!

Matron said...

I've heard you can make an insecticide with boiled up rhubarb leaves with shavings of soap.

Matron said...

Where are you Captain?