Basil Blunder

We're going for three different types of Basil this year. A Basil Bush, some Mini Basil and then the traditional Sweet Basil we all know and love.

Look at the image on the packaging of the Sweet Basil. I find this a very odd choice! It's a shot of some fully bolting Basil. Why would I want my Basil to bolt?! Packaging is all about luring the customer in - mmmmm look at this wonderful sweet juicy herb. I can't imagine there are many gardeners out there who would want their Basil to bolt - it goes very bitter and peppery at that stage and isn't very nice at all. Oh well - let's hope for once the packaging doesn't hold true!

Repotting tomatoes

We repotted the tomatoes today. They've been quite happy on the windowsill for about six weeks and were starting to outgrow their pots.

Repotting is pretty simple but a good tip for tomatoes is plant them deep so the soil almost comes up to the first set of leaves – it makes for a good sturdy plant as it encourages them to send out lots more roots.

Tumbling Toms have been our pick for two years running, so we thought it's time for a change – this year we're growing two varieties – 'Gardeners Delight' which is a bit of a classic apparently and also 'Sweet and Neat' – a mini yellow variety.

Hopefully they'll give us a good harvest.

Yet ANOTHER pest to worry about...

Check out this fella. I thought he was very attractive at first - metallic, almost jewel like. So I did a little Google and it turns out him and his crew have taken a liking to our Rosemary bush and are working their way through its juicy leaves.

Chrysolina Americana or the Rosemary Beetle is actually from Southern Europe and has been found in the UK since around 1994, mainly in London but slowly spreading. The RHS are monitoring the spread of this pest so if you want to record your sighting submit your record here.

It seems there are no natural predators for this pest so currently the RHS are recommending either hand picking the adults and larvae off or using a suitable insecticide. I think I'll try the hand picking first to see if I can reduce the population enough for the plant to bounce back.

Shroom Ahoy!

We tend to keep the garden a little untidy over the winter. Not because we can't be bothered (although there probably is an element of that!) but for the birdies and insect life. The strawberries still have all their straw so it creates a nice warm place for the insects to bed down over the winter.

Because of this we do get random things crop up every year – weeds mostly. But this year we've had mushrooms! We noticed this one today – quite a good sized one too – there's two more small ones next to it but this is the biggest – about 10cm across in size.

We've had a look in numerous mushroom ID books – the only real mushroom around this time of year is the St.George. It definitely looks like a St.George but it's totally the wrong habitat – they should be in fields. This one is in a tiny non-grassed back garden in London. Could it be a St.George? Who knows.

Snow Joke

Well, what an eventful few days we've had. We missed the first batch of snow down here in the South East but we well and truly got hit last night! I'd been quite disappointed with our measly flakes of snow this week but I couldn't complain this morning - we probably had about 3/4 inches - doesn't sound like much but for London that is pretty good :-)

Of course + snow = - trains! So both the gardeners were at home today. Had a lovely walk in a snow covered Greenwich Park at lunchtime but spent most of the day snug and warm at home.

So whilst you're toasting your toes by the fire give a little thought to the birdies and wildlife out there. They need your help - make sure you top up your feeders and put out fresh water. I've been clearing away the snow in the morning and laying down seed for the ground feeders – blackbirds, robins etc (although the pigeons are having more than their share...)

Peanuts are great and sunflowers seeds too – but if you don't want to shell out left-overs are just as good – high fat is best so cake, biscuits, cheese is a great one - our birds have had Parmesan this week (albeit an out of date one but nevertheless, only the best for the SE10 birds!)

Green Manure

So, it's that time of year – all our veg has pretty much been pulled now - beets, fennel, potatoes, tomatoes and it's all looking rather sparse.

Normally we'd just leave the garden, to overgrow - let it harbour some juicy insects for the birdies over winter. This year though – we'd heard lots of people talk about green manure so we thought we'd check it out.

Green manure is a crop that's grown to benefit the soil. There's lots of different types that can be used to perform several functions. A lot of them have deep penetrative roots that will help break up clay and improve soil structure - great for London gardens. They'll also release nutrients into the soil ready for the next crop and suppress weeds so hopefully that first job of the year will be a little easier!

We've chosen two types, Forgae Rye and Forage Pea. Forage Rye looks a little like wheat – it's very grass like. When it comes to next year, you just loosen the roots and dig it into your soil. Easier said than done I think.... Forage Pea as the name suggests is part of the legume family, again deep roots that break up the soil and good for weed suppression as it has quite a lot of foliage.

We bought our seeds from sow seeds which sounds like a lovely little family run business.

So, it all sounds great. We get to look at something other than bare earth for a few months, bye bye to weeds, hello to lovely nutrients for our veges next year. Everyones a winner? Lets see what we say when we have to dig up the whole garden next year...

Blight Fright!

We thought a week ago that our main crop might have blight. Blight is probably one of the worse diseases you can get and it can wipe out your whole crop. It was the cause of the Irish potato famine and so obviouly we were pretty concerned. I'd seen loads of pictures of the leaves curling at the end and going brown - and this is excatly what we had so hence the worry.

What is blight?
Blight is a fungus – Phytophthora infestans. It's triggered by warm wet conditions and August this year has been great for blight - warm and SO much rain. The first thing are brown patches on the leaves. The tubers can be affected as well and they'll just rot from the skin through the flesh.

What can you do to prevent it?
Well, not much really. It's killed by cold weather so cross your fingers for a few cold days! There are a few chemical treatments Bordeaux mixture which is organically approved but contains copper which probably isn't that good for you... and Diathane 945 which sounds horrid!

The best way to get round is it to choose a variety that is less affected by blight.

Thompsan & Morgan have a good list here.

What can you do to treat it?
Again, not much! If it's just a few leaves that seem to be affected then you can remove those. Whatever you do, don't put them on your compost heap! The spores will love it in there. If possible burn. By pruning this may stop the spores from reaching the tubers (as long as they're well earthed up)

We duly followed instructions and took off any foilage that showed signs of browning. The plants actually look pretty healthy - albeit a little bald now! I'm now not sure that it is actually blight. I've read a few forums and I think we might be lucky...

Watch this space!