This week 6 Oct 2006

  • If you are on the case with slugs and snails, remember that it only takes one bait to kill several and you do not need to use bait like fertiliser. Slug bait is not particular pleasant material. Wash your hands after handling it.
  • It is a good time to fertilise vireyas now.
  • If you have rhododendrons (or indeed camellias though it is less common) with silver leaves, the culprit is a little sucking thrip. You can’t turn the silver leaves green again but you can stop the fresh spring growth from going the same way by the use of insecticide a little later in spring (we will advise when). In the meantime, opening up around the plant to increase air movement and to reduce heavy shading will also assist but if the plant is totally silver and sick, it may be best to take it out and replace it with a higher health variety. There are selections which are a great deal more resistant to thrips.
  • Keep an eye out for bitter cress, a small weed which can germinate, grow alarmingly fast and pop its seeds everywhere if you are too late removing it. It appears with a small flat rosette of leaves and can take as little as three weeks from germination to ensuring its immortality with its first explosion of seed.
  • Dwarf beans and runner beans can be direct sown into the garden now.
  • Melons (rock and water) can still be started now in containers. The annual challenge for Mark here is to get a good melon crop through. Timing is important because melons need a long growing season and we are only hot enough for a relatively short period of time. They need to be established in containers and planted out in to black polythene around Labour Day. The black poly is to get extra heat and to keep the foliage clean and reduce disease.
  • With the warming weather, if we get a dry spell keep an eye on container plants and start watering before they get too dry. It is difficult to get water absorbed once the root ball has dried out too much.