David in Normandy wrote:
Bobbie wrote:
David in Normandy wrote:

Better still, give up using chemicals and pesticides. Go Green, go
organic. So much better for you and the environment.
I have a large garden, and a my husband has a good sized vegetable
garden, we don't use any chemicals. The veg are doing well and so are
the flower beds.


What do you use to prevent / cure rust on the onion family? My chives
seem very prone to attack at this time of year. Similarly how do you
prevent / cure blight on potatoes and tomatoes?


Would you believe me if I was to tell you that so far we have not been
blighted in this way.
I think a lot has to do with being able to use untainted compost. from
our own compost heaps. Made up of goat, horse, and chicken manure, to
which we add kitchen waste, and garden waste. Maintained, organically
and allowed to rot sufficiently to produce a viable sweet smelling
crumbly black final compost. Added to that, possibly the most temperate
climate in England, warm and sunny Dorset. I don't grow for instance,
plants that I know to be prone to disease, aphids are dispatched with
soft soap solution or simply by hand, same with slugs and snails.
Grand-daughters are bribed into hand picking any caterpillars that dare
to escape all other methods of removal. John uses cages and lots of
netting. We lose a few things to inclement weather but fingers crossed
we haven't come across anything that hasn't responded to a little extra
tender loving care, and a lot of Mozart.
There are any number of good organic remedies for most garden pests and
vegetable blights.
I confess to a bad case of powdery mildew on a honeysuckle but amazingly
it survived and this year is looking and smelling lovely


Bobbie