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Gooseberry Sawfly and bolting onions
If you have gooseberries, now is a jolly good time to see if the leaves are vanishing.
If they are, the chances are high that they're being eaten by gooseberry sawfly. They chomp their way along the edge of the leaves and are quite hard to spot until you get your eye in. Tiny green caterpillars.
If you don't want to use chemicals, pick the little blighters off by hand. Richard's just picked 500 (no, that isn't a typo) off the bush in his back garden.
Once, when he was a lad, his mother offered him 1penny for every caterpillar he picked off her bushes. She only ever made the offer once...
If you have onions or other plants that are bolting (flowering and setting seed when they should not be) , then the cause is almost certainly lack of water. We've been watering our onions regularly (and giving them the dilute urine treatment) and they're looking a lot larger than last year's ones already. Although, to be fair, I'm talking about autumn-planted onion sets, which have a head start. The spring planted sets are still small in comparison. They're growing well though, healthy green leaves and the stems are starting to thicken up, but only a few are starting to swell into bulbs yet. Keep weeding as well. You want your plants to get the nutrients, light and water, not the weeds.
If they are, the chances are high that they're being eaten by gooseberry sawfly. They chomp their way along the edge of the leaves and are quite hard to spot until you get your eye in. Tiny green caterpillars.
If you don't want to use chemicals, pick the little blighters off by hand. Richard's just picked 500 (no, that isn't a typo) off the bush in his back garden.
Once, when he was a lad, his mother offered him 1penny for every caterpillar he picked off her bushes. She only ever made the offer once...
If you have onions or other plants that are bolting (flowering and setting seed when they should not be) , then the cause is almost certainly lack of water. We've been watering our onions regularly (and giving them the dilute urine treatment) and they're looking a lot larger than last year's ones already. Although, to be fair, I'm talking about autumn-planted onion sets, which have a head start. The spring planted sets are still small in comparison. They're growing well though, healthy green leaves and the stems are starting to thicken up, but only a few are starting to swell into bulbs yet. Keep weeding as well. You want your plants to get the nutrients, light and water, not the weeds.
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No onions here, but my spring-planted garlic seems to be doing well, I've been watering and occasionally feeding them. The chives are in flower and they look (and taste) great. I might be adventurous and try onions next year.
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If you don't cut them back correctly, then you won't have wood of the best age to bear fruit.
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