TROUBLESHOOTER
Q What causes orange spots on the leaves?
A A rash of spotty orange blisters is a sign of rust. It isn’t lethal but it reduces plant vigour and your chance of a harvest. Rotate crops and practice good hygiene, clearing away crop debris. Apply sulphate of potash in February to boost plant growth and bulb size. Earlyharvesting cultivars should skip the worst of the problems.
Q Can I grow garlic on heavy clay soil?
A Garlic doesn’t like heavy soils and prolonged winter wet, so use large containers or raised beds, or plant in modules overwintered in a greenhouse or coldframe ready to plant out next spring. Alternatively, choose a springplanting cultivar, though you’ll still need to lighten your soil. Or, grow your crop in a greenhouse. Autumnplanting cultivars will be ready to harvest in May, just as tender crops need the space.
Q Which disease caused my plants to keel over, after starting well?
A Onion white rot is a really unpleasant disease that turns plants to mush, with obvious white fluffy fungal growth along the way. It remains in the soil for a good 15 years so normal crop rotation won’t beat it. Large containers offer a solution if the disease is endemic in your garden. Be sure to dispose of infected plants onto the bonfire rather than the home compost heap.
Q My collapsed plants are full of small white larvae. What are they?
A These are the larvae of onion fly, which likes garlic too! Adults lay eggs in the soil and young larvae burrow into the plant neck, causing it to collapse and die. Rotate crops each year, hoe regularly around garlic and try covering plants with a fine insect mesh. ➤