Minimising Blight Risk

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How do I avoid potato blight?

There are a number of things you can do to reduce the instance of potato blight from the type and variety of potato you grow to good garden hygiene and finally damage limitation when it does hit.

Non-chemical control

Growing early varieties

Blight is most common in July and August so growing early varieties which are harvested before blight arrives allow you to avoid the disease. You will need to grow early potatoes for immediate use rather than maincrop potatoes for storage.

Allotment Hygiene

Make sure all potatoes are removed from the soil at the end of the season, this can be difficult as some very small tubers can be difficult to find.
Avoid dumping infected potatoes near your plot.
Potatoes from the previous season growing on a compost heap are a common source of infection in many allotments so try to keep a potato free heap.
Blight is spread by the wind, so removal of infected plants and debris is essential, burn it or remove from site.

Chemical Sprays:

All of the sprays available to the amateur grower are really only preventative measures.
Bordeaux Mixture
Baking Soda mixed with vegetable oil with water
Bayer Garden Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control
Recent studies have indicated that spraying tomato plants with a diluted asprin solution tricks the tomatoes defence mechanism into toughning the leaves and stems making them 47% less likely to be effected by blight. This also managed to make fruit sweeter and higher in vitamins too.

Category: Recipes

Perfect Roast Potatoes

Perfect Roast Potatoes
My foolproof way of getting that perfect roastie!

Rhubarb & Grenadine Crumble

Rhubarb & Grenadine Crumble
This has a great twist, the Grenadine adds great colour and taste to the rhubarb that will add that something special to your dessert!

Rhubarb & Custard Cocktail

Rhubarb & custard cocktail
An elegant vodka-based drink that'll wow your guests - it's made with creamy advocaat iqueur and homemade fruit syrup

Category: The Growing Season

Jobs to do in July

Harvest should be bountiful and the allotment is in full swing

Now is the height of summer, the days endlessly long, temperatures usually at their peek and you should be reaping the rewards of your hard work in the preceding months. Watering in this month is crucial to stem off premature bolting, tomato blossom end rot and splitting skins.

The Growing Season

The Growing Season varies in different parts of the United Kingdom, but in Hatfield Peverel we are blessed with a milder climate and enjoy a longer season than many parts of the country.

In this section of the web site I have tried to separate the season out into monthly sections to help and guide you through the most popular tasks and crops regularly grown on the allotment site, but if you would like a feature made of a particular vegetable or task, please get in touch and I will do my best to add it to the web site for you.

Jobs to do in January

Jobs to do on the Allotment in January
January is generally a very cold month with hard frosts freezing the ground and when the ground isn't frozen it is generally too wet to do much although there are no guarantees with British weather. Looking through my diaries, snow isn't that likely for a prolonged period but you never know.

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