What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
Cabbage has two main enemies: the cabbage white, whose caterpillars strip the leaves bare, and the unseen cabbage root fly, whose maggots destroy the roots. Here is how to keep both off without poison, with net, collar and a look under the leaves.
Shortly after flowering, whole shoot tips of the sour cherry wilt and die brown. It looks like late frost but is Monilia blossom blight. How to tell the two apart and why cutting back well into the healthy wood is the key.
Fruit that rots brown on the tree and carries pale spore cushions in rings: brown rot. Why the fungus enters almost only through wounds, why the overwintering mummified fruit is the key, and how to curb the rot without sprays.
In spring the peach leaves blister, curl and turn red: peach leaf curl. Why you can fight it only before leaf-out, how a rain roof protects the tree, and which varieties shrug off the attack better.
Fire blight is the most dangerous pome fruit disease and notifiable. How to recognise the suddenly scorched-looking shoots with the typical shepherds crook, why you must not prune yourself, and what to do on suspicion.
Brown patches on apples and foliage: apple scab is almost unavoidable in wet years. How to recognise it on leaf and fruit, why scab-resistant varieties save all spraying in the home garden, and what else helps.
Bright orange spots on the pear leaf: pear rust looks dramatic but has a decisive weakness. It absolutely needs a juniper as its second host. How to break the cycle and get rid of the rust for good.
A garden is not a battlefield. How a clear ladder of prevent, strengthen, encourage beneficials and deter mechanically keeps most problems from ever growing large, and why the chemical hammer is the very last step.
An identification helper for the five commonest fruit tree diseases: apple scab, fire blight, brown rot, pear rust and peach leaf curl. How to recognise each by its damage, why fire blight is notifiable, and how an airy crown and tree hygiene prevent most problems.
