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

Fagiolini in Umido

This is a great dish to use some of the abundant Green Beans that should be available in the summer months Fagiolini in Umido is an Italian dside dish simply means Green Beans cooked in Tomato.

Irish Stew with Parsnips

Irish Stew with Parsnips
The Parsnips are by no means traditional in this recipe and are optional but my wife loves them so what you going to do?

Aubergine Parmigiana

This simple aubergine parmigiana recipe from Italy makes a cosy mid-week meal. Serve this cheese, tomato and aubergine bake as a vegetarian main dish, with some wholewheat garlic bread or a peppery rocket salad, or you can also make it as a hearty side for for a meat dish.!

Category: The Growing Season

Jobs to do in February

Time to do some groundwork

We get a glimpse of the early signs of the arrival of Spring this month. The soil begins to warm up around the middle of February and we can see for the first time this year the buds beginning to swell on fruit trees and bushes. Overwintering vegetables begin to look less sorry for themselves and they start to produce new growth.

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.

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