Part 1: Flowers, mould and no heating

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Sedum and Heuchera

As October draws to a close and the spooks and sparks of Halloween and bonfire night are celebrated, Im kept busy. Something always seems to crop up at this time of year not least the question of heating. As more of us start up our boilers things are bound to go wrong, my problem is not the going wrong but the getting my boiler started for the first time ever. After moving into a house that has only had storage heaters in the past this is proving to be a mammoth task for my poor long-suffering dad.

But whilst I leave him to the plumbing it seems I have a problem in the polytunnel as well. I have a case of botrytis Cinerea or Grey mould (also know as Boytrytis fuckeliana) due to the humidity, yes it’s not been cold or dry enough for the plants. It may have also come in on a few of the new plants I have ordered in recently, these were not from a reputable supplier.

So first to try the Non-chemical approach as ideally I am working towards an organic garden.

In an attempt to stop the spread of spores, I have removed all the affected leaves and stems and disposed of them, well away from the other plants in my garden. I have increased the ventilation in the polytunnel and I have spread the plants out a little more to improve ventilation around them.

As I have only a few plants affected good hygiene and ventilation should sort the problem out fairly quickly.

Grey mould will usually be down to poor ventilation or a wounded/stressed plant will be susceptible.

When seen in fruit it will often rot branches without the grey mould appearing and it will be found as brown rot on ripening fruit, both on and off the plant.

If you decide to treat it some chemical preparations may state an effect on grey mould but no company will guarantee it will work.

On a lighter note I find it amazing just how many plants are still in flower or looking lovely at this time of year. Of course you can usually find something that will flower most months but these are plants that, strictly speaking, should have finished. This could be for several reason but I think I will blame the late start to the season due to the cold wet start of summer (spring was lovely this year though).

Is this how our years are going to be from now on? It might be wise to start planning next years gardens on this premise as it seems it may be. My next blog will be on plants that can cope with both the long dry spells in summer but also the long wet ones to.

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