[sue]

Hi,I wonder if anyone can help me with a problem on my new allotment.My garlic just broke through the soil and the tops have been eaten off,also some of my baby spring onions have been pulled up and the ends eaten.Broccoli and leeks were not touched?

[Belfast]

Any photos

do you get rabbits or cats in the Garden ?

[sue]

Hi Belfast,
Thanks for reply,hope picture comes out ok never tried to post pic before.Covered with net so no more eaten.

[walltoall]

My guess is wood-pigeons. The net should stop them. If you were here in Thurrock I'd suspect Ring-Necked-Parakeets.

Sometimes when you plant onion sets very lightly in rich loam, you find some most or all of them upside down a few days later. Don't laugh but it's done by WORMS before the sets develop a root system to hold tthem up/down?. The wums think the wee sets are leaves and try to pull them underground. But of course the bulk does not allow them to succeed with their cunning plan to add humus to your garden.

When you lift such sets you'll find a worm-hole underneath. Just stick 'em more firmly in the ground and repeat as needed. Worms give up easily.

[sue]

Thanks for reply Walltroll
Checked today and no more damage.Maybe I could get some more advice.Have a new allotment have worked half of it but the other half may not get worked on if the weather turns to bad.Half will be for potatoes and the rest for beans,peas,root veg ect. It has been rotavated 3 times by owner but all it has done is to break up the couch grass roots and now loads of new grass growing.Should I cover with plastic or leave it be till early spring?Any advice welcome.

[walltoall]

Couch is the very divil to get rid of. Quite frankly (and it goes against my instincts) I found the only way to deal with scutch was by using chemical warfare. I don't spray the systemic weedkiller. I paint it on to each leaf neat from the bottle with an artist's brush. A tiny dab per ' leaf '. slow, laborious, tedious, boring and ongoing for maybe three or four months during the growing season but it's far better than digging over and over extracting all the little rhisomes one by one.

There's nothing wrong with laying down plastic sheeting or old carpet or my favourite, underlay (black side up to maximise soil heating in Spring). All these inhibit growth and kill off most weeds. However, they work by starving leaves of sunlight. Some plants can't cope with such treatment and keel over. But scutch 'goes to ground' literally. The green growth dies but the white rhisomes stay alive in damp soil apparently indefinitely. When you lift the sheeting they're off again

[michael brenock]

for scutch try roundup or glyphosate, diluted with water 10 to one. The best time to apply it is any time from late April to end of september. if only a few plants have to be treated use a sponge held in your hand wearing a rubber glove and dilute the roundup 2 -3 to one.
it is a good iea now at this time of year to cover the ground with black plastic mulch tucked in at the edges with soil. The rotavator will have done a lot of breaking and spreading up the scutch grass roots.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[sue]

Thanks for words of advice,think I will try an experiment going to remove what I can off a third and cover with black plastic,cover another third and do nothing to it and the last third remove what I can and leave uncovered.
I will see what has happened in early spring and spray if it is to bad to work with.
Thanks again