Today I have discussions with 2 experience allotmenteers and they told me about two plants that help each other against pests / diseases (I getting confirmation from them and will let you know) However this may me think what vegetables don't grow well together so I checked this out to find the following:- 1. Potatoes and tomatoes are both in the Solanaceae family, but these vegetables do not grow well together. Do not plant these two crops next to one another because the presence of the tomato plant lowers the potato plant's individual resistance to Phytophthora infestants, commonly known as blight. This disease affects both tomato and potato plants. Once a plant is infected, blight spreads quickly from one plant to another, and even to other gardens close by. It can wipe out entire fields, and was the cause of the Irish potato famine in 1845. Potatoes grown near tomatoes often slow the growth of the tomato plant . When using crop rotation techniques, which means planting a crop in a different location each season, do not plant tomatoes or potatoes where the other one was the previous season. 2. Keep onions out of the pea and bean patch. Onions and their close relative, shallots, stunt the growth of all types of beans and peas. If you have a small garden and wish to grow all three plants, try planting a row of beans, then a row of cabbage. Follow that with a row of onions, a row of lettuce, a row of radish then a row of peas. This way the plants are not side-by-side, and a plant that benefits both plants is growing in between them. 3. Cabbage and cauliflower are not enemies. The reason these vegetables don’t grow well together is that they are both affected by Plasmodiophora brassicae, commonly known as club root. This fungus causes the roots to swell up. Once this happens, the roots are no longer able to take up water. The leaves will wilt and turn yellow. The only way to deal with this is to remove the plants--roots and all. Other vegetables that don’t grow well together with cabbage and cauliflower include radish and tomato.

Looking around the plots I’m beginning think that it’s getting a bit late to plant my potatoes… But those that have managed to get them in had to put a lot of work into their plot last year, they planned ahead, rough digging over their chosen bit of ground before the first winter frost and rains arrived, this ensured that ground could weather over the winter month’s. Then they patiently waited for that break in the weather and when the ground had dried out just enough for them to get on to the plot and break the soil down to a suitable tithe, they got their seed potato’s in and earth up before the weather changed again for the worst. Why all this effort, well like many potato growers, especially those on allotments there is a fear of potato blight, if it arrives the only thing that we can do is to cut of and remove the green growth. This hopefully stops the blight from moving down into those treasured young potatoes, but it also has the effect of stopping the growth of potatoes, producing a harvested that can be a less than satisfying. So the reasoning is, the earlier you can get your potatoes in, the longer they will have had to grow if we do get potato blight. (It should be noted that last year the expected blight never did really appear). Oh! There is one other small insignificant reason, why some like to plant potatoes early, obviously not a factor related to Fareham Allotment Holders, but it is suggested that some gardeners feel that there is only one thing better when watching others breaking their backs trying to prepare their potato plot in the early spring, (whilst their potatoes are all safely planted under neat earthed up ridges,) and that is that smug satisfaction you get when you know that you are one of the first to be sat in front of a plate of new season potatoes. Early verities, Late verities, This dose not necessarily relate to their planting time it relates to the amount growing time they require early's take about 10-12 weeks where as late's take about 15-20 weeks, as long as they are in by June there is plenty of time. The early's should be ready by August and the late’s will need digging up by late October And if you think about it, and if you can avoid any early frost you could plant early verities in late summer to hopefully crop Xmas time. Potato blight, if and when it arrives there is not a lot you can do. When it arrives it’s to late. Aim to grow healthy plants, don’t over crowd your plants, and allow sufficient space between rows to allow air to get around them. The blight spores like warm humid conditions. And some aim to preempt blight with a regular spray of a proprietary copper solution,

She's not really a pest but Willow has always liked fresh produce. After spending a couple of years adding paving stones to our plot for paths Bob informed me that that was not a good idea as its a good home for slugs and a path of wood chippings would have been much better. He had only just found out himself so he was trying to be helpful. We are now looking to get some boards from Steve to convert more of the plot to raised beds so we can have more wood chip paths. Any body else have any ideas?