- Start feeding plants in established borders using a controlled-release slow-acting fertiliser, taking care not to get the liquid onto new foliage
- Spray nectarine and peach trees to prevent or eradicate peach leaf curl disease
- Check that rain-sheltered trees, shrubs and climbers in containers are dry and, if so, water containers from time to time
- Check seedlings growing indoors have plenty of natural light so they don’t become leggy
- If it’s not too wet or frosty, brush over lawn surface that has become covered in worm casts, using a besom or brush
- Scoop out leaves, twigs and other debris from guttering on conservatories, greenhouses and garages
- Prune wisteria
- Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges
MANY of us have visions of digging up delicious spuds and cooking them as soon as the soil has been wiped off them, but in reality we often have other tasks to do first – like tackling the pests and diseases which can leave our potatoes mottled, mouldy or full of holes.
Potato blight can destroy your plants overnight. It is caused by a fungus which turns the stems brown and the leaves yellow, causing the plant to collapse. It is always fatal, although you may save later crops by removing top growth as soon as the blight is spotted.
Blight generally starts from June onwards, especially in warm, wet spells. The first signs are brown patches on the leaves. If you have neighbouring tomatoes, they are also likely to be infected. There is no treatment once the disease has taken hold.
To minimise the risk, follow a three- or four-year crop rotation, never growing potatoes on the same piece of land more than once every four years, and earth up the plants regularly and deeply to protect the tubers.
If you want to use chemicals, use copper-based fungicides during warm, damp spells as a preventative measure. For organic growers, the only treatment is to cut off and burn the tops and hope that the blight hasn’t got into the tubers.
Alternatively, grow early potatoes which can usually be lifted before blight strikes, or grow resistant varieties such as Sarpo.
Three of the most common threats to potatoes are pests – potato cyst eelworms, slugs and wireworm. Eelworms are minute creatures which attack the roots, causing plants to wilt, and cause reddish-brown cysts on the roots. The lower leaves wither away while upper leaves are pale green and wilt during the day. You will need to destroy all traces of the affected crop, and avoid growing potatoes in that spot for about eight years.
Slugs and snails can be a major problem on heavy, wet soil. Attacks begin in August. Early lifting of maincrops may help to reduce damage, and slug pellets may help a little, although some slugs live permanently underground. Collect slugs and snails after rain or in the evening on damp nights, and dispose of them.
Wireworm is also a serious pest, especially in wet summers, as tubers can become riddled with narrow tunnels made by the one-inch orange shiny larvae. There is no treatment or prevention, as no insecticide for use below ground is available.
Other problems which may affect your crops include scab, a fungal disease in which scabs (flat areas of rough skin pitted with shallow splits) appear. It is worse in light and limy soils, but is only skin-deep, so it won’t affect your potatoes if you peel them.
The best way to deter it is to incorporate plenty of organic matter when planting potatoes, but don’t lime your soil. Make sure you water potatoes during dry weather, and try resistant types such as Nadine and Wilja.
While there is no treatment for some pests and diseases, there are things you can do to stop other problems. If aphids invade your plants, spray them with insecticidal soap. If there is a risk of a severe frost, cover the shoots of earlies with newspaper to prevent damage to plants.
If your leaves start to go brown between the veins, it’s likely that they are suffering from a magnesium deficiency, so apply a trace element spray. Alternatively, as a preventative measure, feed the plants with fertiliser which contains magnesium as well as nitrogen, phosphates and potash during the growing season.
To boost your chances of success, always buy certified seed potatoes, work in plenty of organic matter on dry soil to retain moisture and help to prevent scab, and try the wide range of resistant varieties on the market. Then, hopefully ,when you harvest your crops, you really will find the spuds you like.
Salvation is at hand for budding gardeners
VEGETABLE growing will play a vital role in getting some of Jersey’s unemployed back into the workplace in a new scheme organised by the Island’s Salvation Army.
The initiative, which is being spearheaded by church leaders Lieutenants Steve and Melanie Scoulding, will provide an opportunity for those who might not be able to access any other means of training.
Although it will only be possible to take on a small group, they will learn new skills, spending part of the week tending a large vegetable plot and part of the week learning about cooking and baking.
They will be involved through the whole food process, raising vegetables from seed, tending them while they are growing, harvesting them and then taking them into the kitchen, where the trainees will prepare and cook them for meals served to the community.
Steve Scoulding said that the scheme, which has the backing of the parish Constable and States Members, will help people back into the discipline of getting up and going to work. It is also designed to boost their confidence.
‘It’s a major empowerment, being able to do things with your hands,’ he added. ‘It may be a small project, but it’s very exciting and it could make a big difference to people’s lives.’
To get the scheme off the ground, a community development officer will be appointed to act as a liaison between the Salvation Army and the various local agencies that will be involved.
The site that is being used for vegetable growing is about a third of an acre and adjoins Mr and Mrs Scoulding’s home in Gorey. The property was derelict when they first moved to the Island three and a half years ago. It had been used as quarters for the officer who ran the Gorey corps, but it closed in 1966. After that, it was rented out.
‘The Salvation Army was going to sell it, but we thought it would be a shame, especially having the field alongside, which could be used for mission work. We persuaded them to keep it, and last year the property was renovated.’
A great deal of work has also been undertaken on the vegetable plot, which was overgrown with weeds several feet high. These have been cleared, the soil has been rotavated, dug and levelled and beds have been marked out ready for planting. A greenhouse is on order to raise seedlings, and membership of the National Vegetable Society is also on the cards, as advice has already been sought from the Jersey association’s chairman, Graeme Le Marquand.
Steve said that the aim was to grow as organically as possible. Vraic would be put down at the end of the season, and waste would be composted.
A wide variety of produce will be cultivated, including Jersey Royal potatoes as the land favours early cropping, sloping southwards and making the most of the sunshine. There will also be plants like sunflowers to encourage bees and other pollinating insects.
Most of the produce will make its way to the Salvation Army’s base in St Helier, where a new bakery and café are to be built in a downstairs part of the building. Any surplus produce will be sold on a roadside stall, raising money for the charitable work undertaken for the community.
Jersey is Steve and Melanie’s first appointment and both say they love living and working in the Island.
Sowing greenhouse peppers
THIS month is a good time to sow peppers in a heated propagator or on a windowsill indoors at a temperature of 21° to 27°C, to give them a head start for summer. When large enough to handle, the seedlings can be pricked out and potted on to individual small pots to grow at 16°C to 19°C. Harden them off carefully, because peppers are very sensitive to frost. They can be planted in an unheated greenhouse from late May to early June, or outside, preferably in a sheltered spot, in mid-June. Water them in well after planting and then sparingly until they are starting to flower. Support them with canes and apply a liquid tomato feed once a week once the first flowers open.
Ask the Expert
FRANCIS Le Quesne, gardening expert and proprietor of Le Quesne’s Garden Centre in St Saviour, answers your horticultural questions
Q: I desperately want to grow some Jersey Royals, but I have only a small garden which I plant out with summer bedding, so have very little room for vegetables. Any ideas?
A: A customer came into the shop recently and, like you, likes his summer bedding. But he plants up his borders now with Jersey Royals, so by the middle of May he is digging his potatoes and has nice clean borders to plant his bedding in. I thought, what a good idea, because a potato crop is wonderful for smothering perennial weeds.
Q: My dahlias always seem to take a long time to get going. I plant them out in April and May, but they seem to take ages to flower. Any tips?
A: Dahlias are useful for providing colour from mid-summer to late autumn, but being a native of Mexico, they like warmth. Try planting them in pots now and keep them in a glasshouse or frame. You can then plant out growing plants in April and May and get earlier and more flowers from your plants.
Q: Is it time to prune my roses?
A: Roses are usually pruned after the danger of frosts has passed. I do mine towards the end of February and then hope! But don’t be intimidated by thinking you have to be very knowledgeable about pruning. Trials have proved that pruning ‘properly’ or pruning with a hedge-cutter make very little difference to the health of the plant. However, what will make a big difference are nutrients. Roses are greedy and will hugely benefit from a good thick dressing of farmyard manure, which is now readily available from garden centres. Not stinky, not slimy – just great feed for your roses!
Salad
SALAD can be expensive at this time of year, but you can easily sow seeds of salad leaves into pots or trays of compost in the greenhouse, conservatory or even on a sunny windowsill.
If you sow them in batches every couple of weeks and harvest them when they are young, you should have a continuous supply until the weather becomes fine enough to sow them outside unprotected.
Easy-to-grow leaves include rocket, land cress, lettuce and spinach.
Cuttings
GROWER of organic vegetables Brian Adair will give a talk on growing potatoes next week at St Ouen’s Parish Hall, at the invitation of the Jersey Association of the National Vegetable Society.
Members of the society will be at the hall for their annual general meeting but anyone who is interested in growing organically is invited to the talk. Admission is free to the talk, which takes place on Tuesday at 8 pm, with tea and coffee served at the end of the evening. Anyone interested can contact Zoe Vibert at zvibert@gmail.com or by calling 499387, so that seating arrangements can be made.
ANOTHER Giving Table event is taking place next Saturday in King Street outside Hamon’s from 10 am to 3.30 pm. Organised by eco-group Jersey in Transition, the monthly pop-up free shop is where people can donate items they no longer want, and others simply take what they need. Anyone can take things to the stall on the day, but you don’t have to donate anything to take things away, so there is no need to be shy about picking things up. No money changes hands, as everything is free, and items like children’s games and toys, ornaments, clothes, laptop computers and radios have all been donated in the past.
