Can I Help ?

[positivekarma]

Hi All

I'm a new member to Ebid and a Horticultural Instructor .. If you have any gardening issues you would like advice on please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.

I can advise on plant problems, soil problems, bugs, organic growing, lawns, Soft & Hard Landscaping, and design.

Peace

Sharon

[youmeus]

Welcome to eBid!!!!

I think this question would be answered the world over alike. I am in the USA and it is getting colder and the gardening is finished for the season. Should I burn the trash, pull all of it or just till it under?

[positivekarma]

Hmmm composting is a great way to get rid of garden waste and also gives you something to put back in the soil for next year .. However ..

If the rubbish you are talking about is weeds then dig them out getting as much of the root as you can and burn them .. last thing you want to do is compost seeds. they dont rot but thrive in warm dark composting conditions, then next year when it comes to spreading the compo you are spreading weed seeds that are fit and healthy and ready to take over your garden again.

I'm against using chemicals in the garden, prefering to use organic methods, but thats a personal choice. Organically to speed up composting using the black sac method add a few worms to each bag

[youmeus]

Thanks to both of you. We are having cold, wet weather now so will be a few days before I can do anything in the garden.

[alm1995]

Hi All

I'm a new member to Ebid and a Horticultural Instructor .. If you have any gardening issues you would like advice on please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.

I can advise on plant problems, soil problems, bugs, organic growing, lawns, Soft & Hard Landscaping, and design.

Peace

Sharon

Welcome to eBid and Thanks for the offer to all members

I have a question please

This summer a lot of my tomatoes, cucumber etc got blight. (I use raised beds as in square foot gardening) Do I need to replace my soil mix or can I just try and clean up with Jeyes fluid to sterilize the soil

Thanks in advance for any help

[positivekarma]

So many gardeners have been suffering blight over the last couple of years, largely due to the new wetter summer conditions, so I know how you feel, it can be soul destroying watching your hard work ruined by blight .. I lost my peppers

With your raised beds I would suggest skimming (without digging) the top layer of soil off, as this may possibly be hanging on to spores ready to re-infect next season. if possible take off the top 2 - 3 inches of soil and take it to your local dump, last thing you should do is add the possibly infected soil to your compost, likewise do not compost the waste from this years Tommy's, this will infect the whole of your compost bin.

If you have a blow torch style weed burner scorch the under soil before topping up with fresh soil, this will kill any lurking spores, if not having a bonfire in the bed will do the same thing. Adding copper to the fresh topsoil is a good organic preventative measure, and can be bought from most good garden centres.

Good luck

[alm1995]

Hi Sharon thanks for the reply
I did not have a problem till very late in the season and managed to harvest a lot before "I was struck" I did add prunings of leaves from toms to compost bin before blight showed so hope I will not have a problem now I was hoping to have a good supply of home made compost for the spring. I will as you say take some top soil to local dump as I would not want to take the chance again of being reinfected. I am now looking at seed catologues listings etc for seeds that are blight resistant as it seems with "global warming" we could be in for this kind of weather more often than not.
Thanks a lot for your help.