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Advice Plot #79

Aphid Update: Damson Saved, Plum Under Threat

At the end of May I reported on a nightmare aphid infestation. Drastic preventative measures seem to have worked, so far…

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Advice Plot #79 Recommendations

How To: (Hopefully) Prevent an Orchard Aphid Nightmare

I think 2019 is shaping up to be the Year of the Aphid. It seems like the sap-sucking pests are everywhere at the moment: all over the Aqualegias in the back garden, on the onion seedlings in the greenhouse and in a particular nasty manifestation, infesting one or two of the trees in the Plot #79 allotment orchard…

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Plot #59

P&D Identification: Leafminer

The other day, I spotted the tell-tale marks of a leafminer on the leaves of a pea plant down at plot #59. Here’s what the damage looked like: On the top of the leaf you can see the obvious tracks of leafminer tunnels, caused by larvae munching their way through the soft, tender leaf tissues. […]

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Greenhouse Growing

Greenhouse Pest Control, the All-Organic Way

Thanks to one of the warmest, wettest UK winters since records began, the utility area at the end of our (soon to be demolished and replaced) garage/shed, which is home to three compost bins and three large water butts, is also hosting a small, but growing (and irritating) colony of mini mosquitoes. The greenhouse just […]