By Victoria Plum 
By Victoria Plum
Martin Davey, a well-known local horticultural expert who worked for a long time at Easton College, gave us an interesting talk on pests and diseases at this week’s meeting of Reepham & District Gardening Club.
He noted how times have changed over the past few years because we used to have access to many poisons that are now banned, so now we must resort to other ways of protecting our crops. For example, nematodes and parasites can be bought in to help nature overthrow the onslaught of pests.
Did you know that one aphid can, in a year, reproduce enough new aphids to fill a cubic metre? These are a vital food source for many birds and other wildlife and remember that bug-killers are not specific. If you spray to get rid of aphids, the lacewings, ladybirds and hoverflies cannot dodge the drops of poison.
Martin showed us a handy trick with a small plastic pop bottle. Make a slug pub by cutting a window to give slugs and snails access to an inch or two of lager (smellier than ale, so potentially more successful), bury upright just a few inches to stabilise your trap and arrange it with the window at ground level to encourage easy access. Dispose of when full: tip on your lawn for the birds or in your bin.
One of the best ways to discourage overwintering pests of any sort is to keep the garden tidy; not too many overturned pots for the snails to hide in. My garden is a model of this (ha, ha).
While I used to tread on slugs and snails or torture them with salt, I now rescue them. I throw them in the bushes; I never kill them; I don’t kill anything now. This summer I was entranced by the beautiful rosemary beetles. I left them and the rosemary bushes are absolutely fine, no damage visible.
I enjoy my succulents. Last year I was too kind and watered and fertilised too liberally and suffered losses during the two cold snaps we had because of their soft growth.
This year I am being hard and have only watered once since bringing them in to the conservatory in October. I carefully followed my own good advice (I don’t always do this) and used rainwater. Luckily, I have plenty of this and plunged the pots to give a really good soaking before careful draining.
I delight in the flowers that sit for so long on the plants and the geometrically placed leaves which I find fascinating.
During my watering, some water got spilt onto my Aloe arborescens (above) and I was intrigued to see it spiral down the plant as the leaves effectively funnelled it to the ground immediately around the main stem. What a clever survival technique to make the most of every drop.
Next month, join us on Tuesday 20 February in the Town Hall, Church Street, Reepham, to enjoy Guy Barker, The Naked Gardener, speak on “Snowdrops and Winter Treasures”.
Be there for a 7.30 pm start and loiter afterwards to chat to friends and the speaker, and enjoy tea, coffee and homemade cake.
I’m not sure my cake can compete with Karen’s yule log which she brought this month; it was fantastic. You never know what will turn up at the gardening club.
Photo: Tina Sutton
Geoff Fisher