Tuesday 14 June 2016

Drowning spuds

We had a brief glimpse of summer last week with temperatures in the 20s and light winds. So dry we were watering the fruit trees and newly-planted vegetables which were already showing signs of distress.

But this week - the deluge! It rained off and on over the weekend and hasn't stopped, with really heavy, stair-rod rain for hours on end. I'd noticed a couple of potato plants were looking poorly. Different varieties, different beds. They weren't picking up so I decided to lift them. Both plants were completely rotten underneath. But when I put the spade in to lift the second plant, there was standing water half a spade-depth down. The trench we dug weekend before last to divide the rhubarb is filled with water and the grass is just squelchy all over.

Not sure if the potatoes were just drowned or if there's some other disease or pest that got them. There wasn't enough left of the roots and tubers to investigate, and nothing on the leaves, just dull and not thriving. Didn't look like blight and a bit too early  for that. Hope the rest don't suffer a similar fate.


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