Calamity at Clissold

I had to rip out every single one of my lovely new lettuce plants this week. I arrived at the site to find them (planted a couple of weeks ago) mostly dead and the ones that weren’t were terribly wilted – all the horrible signs of a lettuce root aphid attack. And lo and behold, digging up what roots remained found the little blighters still hard at work. It was heartbreaking.

I’ve now covered the bed with a tarpaulin ( = to protect the soil and keep the weeds down) and am hoping that the new batch I sow next week will grow in time to deal with the winter. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you might remember back to a little over a year ago when we had to deal with the aphids at Allens Gardens. They come down from the poplars and bury underground to do their dirty work on the roots of our lettuces. They even managed to get under the environmesh that was covering the bed against just such an attack. By the time I plant out the next lot, Ru tells me that the aphids should have gone back from whence they came, so we just have to hope that we’ll get a good crop of lettuce despite the set back.

Loathe to bring you only bad news, I can report that the kale is doing magnificently! I harvested a good two boxes ( = 2 kilograms) from the bed that gave me a similar amount last week. Hoorah for the kale!

We grow the kale under environmesh to protect it from the flea beetle, which makes tiny little holes in the leaves.