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, which has been bashed by the recent gales and torrential rain. This helps protect the crown and shape of the plants, so hopefully they'll be ready for next year. I'm worried the rough weather will affect my flower stock for the forthcoming Hampton Court

of your crop being affected the following year. You then need to harvest the potatoes (big and small) before it rains, otherwise the fungus will reach them and render them inedible and rotten. Luckily, the other day I was sent a potato blight testing kit

and kills them, so weekly sprayings will usually do the trick. The good thing about using detergent is that it just washes away in the rain - even better if you use a green brand. Of course, blackfly are naturally preyed on by ladybirds, lacewings

weather. And even my trusty copper rings aren't as effective as usual, due to such huge numbers. The rain has washed away the barrier gel and grit circles I also had in place around my lettuces.I also suspect that even the marvellous nematodes

digging for me! All I tend to do is give the soil a thorough and deep forking over, breaking up any 'capping' on the surface caused by heavy rains. Mother Nature can take care of the rest of the work for me - winter frosts will kill slugs and break up

Since Christmas the weather has been almost universally ghastly - rain, fog, leaden skies and general Januaryness. Over the last couple of days, however, I have noticed everything change; the skies are blue and the sun is shining. In the hedges buds

in Hampshire). If you follow her advice, never again will your garden suffer from that August slump. (She also used to play octopush for England).You will notice that I have studiously avoided mentioning the rain that has done its best to flatten every one

Blackbirds ate my cherries, the plum crop was non-existent, but now it's apple time! And what a wonderful year it's been. The relentless August rain ruined so much this year, including holiday plans for many I'm sure, but my apples seem to have