Gardening Pests and Diseases

Aphids
Colonies of small round-bodied insects suck the sap from leaves and distort plant growth. They excrete a sticky honeydew on which sooty moulds grow, and can also spread viruses. Aphids, which are mostly wingless, may be black, green, pink, red, yellow or variously coloured.

Danger Period
Spring and early summer in the open, but any time of the year under glass or indoors.

Treatment
Outdoors or in a greenhouse, spray thoroughly with systemic insecticide such as heptenophos, or with non-systemic insecticides such as malathion, pirimicarb, fenitrothion or derris. Inside the house, use derris only. Encourage predators such as beetles, ladybirds (you can get from some garden centres), bluetits, hoverflies and praying mantis.

If I ever find a praying mantis on my terrace I pick him up and place on my roses or trees so he can eat all the baddies :)

Scale Insects
Particulalry troublesome on greenhouse and houseplants, but also ornamental shrubs, trees and fruit grown outside.

Recognition
Brown, yellow or white scales - flat or oval - mainly on the underside of leaves and clustered alongside the veins and on the stems

Danger Period
Late spring or early summer outdoors, but at any time of the year when under glass

Treatment
Spray with pirimiphos-methyl, heptenophos & permethrin, or malathion three times at twp-week intervals. Alternatively, gently remove scales by hand or with a soft toothbrush, or spray insecticidal soap.

If you have any bark breaking then you need to cut out the dead wood, remove loose bark to reveal a clean wound. Feed, mulch and water the tree properly and the wound should heal naturally.

Do not have irrigation pipes close to the roots, let the water run to the plant rather than right at it!

Do you have any spotting on the leaves of the tree?
Try watering during dry spells and muching the trees, this is common after a drought.

Fruit - Drop
If your fruit has dropped from your tree early then this would be a classic sign that pollinators are not in your garden, feed, mulch and water the tree. If you are experiencing fruit drop in cold seasons then this means poor pollination and nothing can be done until the following season.

Honey Fungus
This can affect most trees and shrubs. Common among rotting tree stumps, some herbaceous perennials and some bulbs.

Recognition
Toad stools at soil level at the base of the trunk. White fan-shaped growths of fungus occur beneath the bark of roots and at soil level. Black ´bootlace´threads on diseased roots spread infection.

Danger Period
Autumn

Treatment
Destroy dead or dying plants and as many roots as possible. Sterilise the soil with a phenolic compund such as Armillatox. The ´bootlaces´do not necessarily mean disaster. Many species of the fungus are not invasive.

Nitrogen Deficiency
All types, but most commonly fruit trees and vegetables.

Recognition
The young leaves turn pale yellow-green, and later develop yellow, red or purple tints. the plants are small, stunted and lack vigour.

Danger Period
Growing season

Treatment
Use nitrogenous fetiliser such as blood, fish and bone or sulphate of ammonia in spring. Improve soil structure and fertility generally. For a quick result, water with a liquid feed or apply a nitrogen-rich foliar feed. A temporary definciency can arise in cold weather, but it will disappear as the soil warms up.

If you have advice where you can purchase these fertilisers or treatments, please let us know so we can forward to our readers

Thanks

Great Juicing Ideas

Juices and blends have become extremely popular over the years and I for one have been juicing for a very long time, I realised that the price of oranges, lemons, grapefuits and many other fruits and vegetables were very easy to grow or fairly cheap to buy from the supermarket.

Juicing can fit very easily into a hectic lifestyle, enabling you to incorporate healthy habits into your everyday routines.

Benefits of Juicing
Nothing quite beats the taste of a blend made at home from fresh ingredients, despite the fact you can buy ready-made juices. The freshly made juices also contain more nutrients than those bought in a supermarket. If you do drink juice on a regular basis you will enjoy certain health benefits, clearer skin, better energy levels and balanced health. It is well known that antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables work most effectively when they are consumed together, juicing encourages precisely this!

The main advantages of juicing are:
Easy
Quick
Convenient
Rejuvenating
Healing
Revitalizing
Delicious

Vitamins and Minerals


Pink & Perky:
1 pink grapefruit
1 white grapefruit
2 ripe pears
ice cubes

Immune Zoom:
1 small mango
1 eating apple
2 passion fruit
juice of 1 orange
5ml/1 tsp echinachea
mineral water
ices cubes (optional)

Ginger juice:
1/2 small pineapple
25g/1oz fresh root ginger
1 carrot
ice cubes

Pomegranate plus:
2 pomegranates
4 fresh figs
15g/1/2oz fresh root ginger, peeled
10ml/2 tsp lime juice
Ice cubes and lime wedges, to serve

Tropical calm:
1 papaya
1/2 cantaloupe
90g/3 1/2oz white grapes

Strawberry soother:
1 peach or nectarine
225g/8 oz/2 cups strawberries

Minty melon cooler:
1 Galia or cantalopue melon
Several large mint sprigs
Juice of 2 large limes
Ice cubes
Extra mint sprigs and lime slices to serve

Apple juice:
10 apples
Ginger (optional)

Orange & carrot juice:
10 oranges
2 carrots
Ginger (optional)

Acapulco:
Pineapple
Passionfruit
Mango
Orange

Instant Energy:
Orange
Apple
Pear
Grapes

Pinky:
Strawberry
Apple

Fresquita:
Strawberry
Orange

Anti Stress:
Ginger
Lime
Orange
Apple

Piñanaranja:
Pineapple
Orange

Hawaiian:
Apple
Mango
Passionfruit
Ginger

Mente Sana:
Apple
Pear
Grape
Ginger

Summer Danger:
Raspberry
Pineapple
Pear


Green juice:
Celery
Lime
Cucumber
Orange

More juicing recipes coming next time, along with juicing and blending techniques

If you have any great juicing recipes or ideas, please share them with us!

Gardening - The fruits of labour

One of the most divine rewards of gardening is picking and eating fresh, home grown fruit straight from the tree. Watching your own fruit mature, looking forward to eating a particular orange or gorging on strawberries are pleasures only available to the dedicated and patient gardener; growing fruit trees is a long lasting, initmate affair.

For the average sized garden there are many fruits and nut trees to suit. Although the fruit tree tends to be low, nut trees, on the other hand, can grow into beautiful shade trees - the walnut tree is a perfect example of this.

Many discussions about fruit trees going on at The Gardening Forum Spain come join in the fun and share your images!

Choosing your tree
There are two main factors when considering buying your trees, location and soil type. Try, if possible, to avoid planting in really exposed areas, as the wind will pull off the flowers and the tree will never fruit. Planting a mimi orchard creates a micro-climate, which generally greatly extends the variety of fruit a garden can accommodate.

Buying your tree
Choose a local supplier as they are likely to have suitable cultivars for your climate; you could try nispero (Achras zapota - the other CampoGirl has one of these growing), apple, pear, guayavo, fig, plums or almond on heavier land or citrus fruits, kaki, membrillo, mulberry, nispero, walnut, where the soil is sandier and lighter.

If you have limited space and an orchard is not quite possible, make espaliers from apples, plums and pears against a wall or fence. Wire the desired branches against the wall in the form you want and then prune the remaining branches each autumn. Continue to remove the vertical water shoots as they appear. In time, the tree will get stronger, and the chosen branches will thicken and bear fruit on the spurs, and the tree will no longer require support, you could also try growing this up a trellis - giving extra support.

Grafting is another way of maximising variety and yield from the garden. Keep like with like - oranges and lemons or limes; stoned fruits together, apples and pears etc. The only trouble you may find is one graft dominates the others and doesn't allow an even development.

For a conversation point you could put 3 trees in the same hole and let them grow together, this is prone to chaotic growth but promotes a long fruiting season.

So, enjoy the fruits of your gardening labour and lets get busy!