We have blight on the allotments鈥hispers sweep around the allotment of the initiating plot(s), but no one knows for sure.听 All I can say is I will not be put up against the wall and shot as I am 鈥� thankfully - clear at the moment.听 But these are perfect conditions for that dreaded plague that everyone fears 鈥� mild, (certainly not hot here in the Highlands) and damp. 听It has to be said that I did consider using 鈥榖light resistance鈥� potatoes but one of my good friends used such a strain and he鈥檚 got blight only on that crop; his others are blight free. 听So it looks as if my suspicion that claims of blight resistance being difficult to sustain is correct. 听I will continue being vigilant and keep spraying. 听For those who don鈥檛 know what blight looks like; you will find a picture in the gallery.

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So, what to do for those that have it.听 Well, if it has just started, I would suggest the first thing you do is remove all infected leaves carefully (so that you don鈥檛 contaminate any others), and put them in a bag to be taken away and burnt or disposed of well away from your garden or allotment. Some people do compost the leaves but I wouldn't risk it.听 Spray with Bordeaux mixture and cross your fingers. 听If it starts to get a stronger hold and the pace of infection seems to accelerate, then the only real solution is to cut the leaves/shaws down to the ground to prevent any infection getting into the potatoes themselves. 听Again, there are divided opinions over what to do with the potatoes. 听Lift them or leave them?听听So long as I feel confident that the disease has got into the ground, I leave mine in situ as they will continue to swell if kept watered

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Enough of this depressing stuff! 听Everything else is in fine fettle and my harvest continues apace. 听I have a glut of calabrese so I鈥檓 freezing some for a later time. 听The tomatoes continue to fruit so feeding is a must now to ensure a full bodied and flavoursome harvest. 听I don鈥檛 have soft fruits on my allotment but there are many plots that do. 听Another friend of mine has some nice currant and gooseberry bushes that have been attacked by sawfly larvae. 听Whilst he has been away for a couple of weeks, I continued spraying his bushes with soapy water and that seems to have done the trick. Sometimes the simplest of things works wonders. 听It鈥檚 easy to tell if you have an attack of the little critters 鈥� the leaves on your plants start to disappear very rapidly and the fruit is left untouched.

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Right now I really love going down to the allotments when we've had a lovely warm and still day.听 The route to the sweet pea section is a joy of scent.听听 I've grown some old heavily scented varieties amongst the newer more spectacular (but less scented) types and I've not been disappointed. 听Soon, the gladioli will be flowering and that should be a spectacular sight as I have planted quite a lot this year! 听Oh, and finally, those broad beans lightly fried in butter for a couple of minutes are truly delicious!