Milk of human kindness

There’s a miracle drink in Toby’s fridge that’s helping keep the mildew off his precious blooms. We’ll drink to that!

STICK a rose near a friend’s nose and ask them to describe its scent and they’ll probably say it’s ‘nice’. But if you hint that your rose is fruity or spicy like Turkish delight then the chances are they’ll perceive those aromas, too.

Much of what we smell is the product of practice. If you split a pong into different ‘notes’ and learn words that describe each one, then any smell becomes both more noticeable and complex. Much of the rest is down to suggestion… I mention this because I’ve been trialling a novel (to me) cure for fungal mildew.

Every summer, when the soil dries and the morning dew dampens the foliage, my colourful purple bugle, gooseberry bush and climbing roses succumb to the disease that over night covers their leaves in a dusty white powder. This is bad enough, but if left the affected foliage becomes marked with black scars or dead patches, severely curbing the vigour of the plants.

Now keep this to yourself, but after I skimmed through a Canadian study from the 1970s on the benefits of milk as a fungicide, I have been spraying vulnerable plants with the white stuff, diluted four parts milk to six of water.

It seems to be working, and best of all nobody at Chez Buckland has noticed. If I was caught plundering the fridge for the garden, not only would I get the blame for the recent milk-free muesli breakfasts, the suggestion of a sour smell would be planted in the family’s nostrils. Even though it’s barely noticeable.

I’ve often wondered how this milky miracle was first discovered. Perhaps there was a freak accident involving a cow and a water pistol?! But trials since the Canadian experiments have shown that milk can be more effective than chemical fungicides, explaining its use on American pumpkins, Australian vineyards and apples in New Zealand.

It doesn’t matter what type of milk you use – red-top, green or full heart attack blue – because it’s the protein that kills the fungus, not the fat. Combined with some sunlight, they apparently create a powerful, short-lived antiseptic that scorches the mildew from the foliage. You just need the ‘bottle’ to try it…

“I’m spraying plants with the white stuff!”

Gooseberry plants like this ‘Leveller’ will also need protecting from powdery mildew As well as being good for teeth and bones, it seems that our milk supply could work wonders on our roses! Luckily, my milky miracle won’t compromise the sweet fragrances of roses such as ‘Crown Princess Margareta’