Beating pests and disease

Tackle garden problems by being proactive, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

OUR bath plug was blocked the other weekend and after several hours trying (mercifully successfully) to unblock it I thought I'd better check the drain under the bathroom downpipe to make sure all was working as it should.

To put a positive spin on things, everything was flowing properly but when I lifted the drain cover I found a huge clutch of snails, happily nestled together and protected from the elements and predators.

I fear that this year may be a bad one for pests and diseases. The generally mild winter won't have killed them off and now our gardens are filling up with new plants and tender, young growth, it is a field day for the bad guys.

In the column on the right I look at some of the most common garden pests at this time of year and through into the summer and on page five I talk about some of the most prevalent diseases you may face over the coming months.

Of course, this is just a minute fraction of the problems we gardeners will potentially contend with this summer, but we can help ourselves and our plants - by being proactive when it comes to preventing incursions by pests and diseases in the first place.

On the next page I look at some of the simple measures supplied by the horticultural charity Garden Organic that we can put in place to help plants help themselves.

As well as the usual battles against aphids and slugs, I will be vigilant for gooseberry sawfly and mullein moth, the caterpillars of which have stripped the leaves from plants and fruit bushes the past couple of summers.

I'm not particularly worried that the loss of leaves makes the plants look rather shredded and sad. What concerns me most is that they need their leaves to fade away naturally in autumn, replenishing the crown for next year's flowers and berries.