Terry Walton takes on the pests hungry for his crops
At last, the spring warmth is welcome but the pests aren’t
Being a lifelong inhabitant of this allotment, I’ve seen many changes to the landscape and gardening methods. In my youth it was devoid of buildings but now they’ve sprung up on every plot, breaking up the open plan landscape. And for many years the edges were where fruit bushes resided for ease of harvesting. But the modern plot has changed and the skyline is punctuated with tall fruit trees. What a glorious change this is at this time of year! The allotments are a riot of fruit blossom rising up into the air, making a splendid change to the whole panorama. So you see, even an allotment can look better for change.
This warmer weather has woken up dormant pests that have been slumbering close by, waiting for the green foliage of their favourite meal to be ready. The broad bean leaves have those roughly notched edges – clear signs that the bean weevil has found its way to the host plant. There’s no organic means of controlling this munching pest, but if the plants are strong and healthy it’ll continue growth without serious harm to the crop.
This year’s rapidly ticking by and the lateness of the season has meant many sowings and plantings are behind schedule. So, it was with a happy feeling and trowel in hand that I could at last plant out my sweet peas. The ground’s been well prepared with plenty of good horse manure and bags of spent compost. To add a little more nutrient I worked several handfuls of blood, fish and bone into the soil last week before erecting my 2.4m (8ft) bamboo canes. This should be the perfect home to encourage these scented blooms to thrive. The sweet peas are sown in root trainers so I can remove them for planting without much root disturbance. They’ve formed a good root structure and should soon be at home in their rich soil. I plant two sets of trainers per cane to give a good ‘bunch’ of plants, and if they’re a little tall they’re fastened to the cane with a figure of eight tie. So, another area that doesn’t look so barren! My brassica area has been heavily limed and lightly forked at the surface so that the soil is kept compacted and firm. I find these are the best ground conditions for members of the cabbage family. With this area prepared I can now put up the frame, which will support the net over these vulnerable crops when cabbage white butterflies are on the prowl. This frame marks out the boundary of the brassica area and helps me with spacing on my plot, which should be progressively filling over the coming weeks. No need to cover it yet but I’ll keep a watchful eye out for those pesky butterflies, then take action! My experiment with asparagus from seed is proving interesting. I sowed 10 seeds and after 10 days one seedling emerged and grew long and leggy. Over the next week four more emerged and all five have been transplanted into 7½cm (3in) pots. I’m still looking for the other five!