Unlike Dove, I don't go to the bother of tearing up my newspapers. Mine go in still folded AND line the walls of my pit to dissuade invading weeds. I like the idea of upturned plastic bottles but your governing factor is that your plot is an allotment, whereas most contributors have theirs outside the back door. I should pick and choose elements of advice to compose a basic plan for yourself.
Thanks. Having an allotment does make certain things difficult. The rules here say we can’t water with a hosepipe just a watering can. It’s always been the rule here.
We have a lot of wildlife including deer and rabbits.
Being situated on the south coast we have the additional problem of drought. We’ve had no rain here since June.
Making a trench and using the plastic ‘funnels’ works really well with watering by hand as you can use a watering can to funnel all the water down below the surface of the soil … that way you don’t lose any to evaporation.
Many years ago I used to have an allotment on top of a hill on the clay of High Suffolk … there was no piped water … just waterbutts taking the water from our shed roof … so I do understand the difficulties. 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
angiestoneage All our water is from an 85ft borehole in the lawn, so we make our own rules - and suffer from the consequences. Our son lives in Mid Sussex so the water situation there is well known. Good luck.
Hi this is how my runners look today - 5th August. This is a photo of the worst one but others also have this problem. I’ve tried cutting off the leaves and also disposed of affected plants but all to no avail. They are well watered. In fact I thought I might have overdone it so stopped watering every day and watered every other day but no improvement. Help!
At this late stage, you've got flowers which may turn into pods so, apart from consulting your fellow allotmenteers, maybe the best course of action will be to plan ahead for next year. I think there's a PM facility? If so, I could forward you the complete plan of what I do every year.
Thanks Nick that would be great. I’ve spoken to many of my fellow allotmenteers and looked at their plants. They’re all fine. We all use the same manure so I thought maybe it’s some kind of virus. I rotate every year and buy new seed. I’m totally stumped but I am going to put lime down as you suggested this weekend to see if that helps.
Just a thought … could your watering can have been used previously for a herbicide? Even if well washed out a residue can linger and might just be enough to affect beans, which seem particularly susceptible to some weedkillers.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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We have a lot of wildlife including deer and rabbits.
Being situated on the south coast we have the additional problem of drought. We’ve had no rain here since June.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Our son lives in Mid Sussex so the water situation there is well known. Good luck.
Help!
particularly susceptible to some weedkillers.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.