THE end of the growing year has come to the vegetable plot. People will be hanging up their trowels, kicking off their wellington boots and stoking up their fires.
Summer has not been the best for growing but I got off lightly when it came to problems with my vegetables until last week.
My neighbour leaned over the freshly pruned hedge and casually dropped the B word on me. The B word, for those not in the know, is ‘blight’ and my neighbour had it on his potatoes.
Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is a fungus like organism originating in Mexico. It hit Ireland in the 1845 and killed a million people. There are no cures for it and gardeners have a responsibility to manage any outbreaks.
Some potatoes are less susceptible to late blight and these include the Sarpo cultivars but we grow Arran Victory, which isn’t.
First signs of late blight arrived on a Wednesday and by Friday all the foliage was dead. Signs are brown blotches that spread to the potatoes, turning them black and mushy. It was now a matter of getting the crop up.
I never compost blighted foliage and I do not agree with binning it. For me, the best hygienic solution is to burn it, killing the organism dead. This organism travels freely in wet, humid conditions and sending it to landfill is asking for trouble.
On the plus side we dug up 80lbs of spuds and none of them had signs of blight.
The Back Lane Veg Patch is a new garden under construction on the Saddleworth hills. This column focuses on growing food and flowers for use in the kitchen and home.
If you have any questions on growing you can contact Andrew on twitter
@Backlanevegpat1
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