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Getting crops in the ground and growing is the critical task now. To do well crops need plenty of leaf in June/July when the sun and temperatures are highest, days are long, and in this dry district they need roots deep in the soil extracting moisture. Unless established in April they are in a poor position...
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Root crops, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and other crops have all been gathered and stored a frost free shed. Yields have been truly excellent – a wet summer is a very good summer for sandland gardeners in dry southern districts. However, lack of warmth has meant that the storage potential...
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With record numbers of enquiries to the RHS gardening advisers about weedkiller damage to potatoes that often appear to be linked to manure contaminated with the pasture weedkiller aminopyralid , my heart has been in my mouth that I too might have bought dodgy muck. But so far so good – all looks well...
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Heavy rain has restored the allotment soil to full moisture. Winkling out spent winter crops revealed bone-dry powdery sand beneath, so it is certain that flowering broad beans and peas were suffering and would set fewer pods and potatoes would not initiate their full cropping potential. All that has...
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Will I have to water, won’t I have to water? Rain so far has usefully wetted the ground, but more is forecast and with luck it will top up the soil at just the right moment as seeds are emerging, lettuces hearting up, spuds initiating their tubers and peas and beans are in full flower. Enough rain now...
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