Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/06/2026
7:00 pm
Location
Kilmington Village Hall
Categories
Sally Nex went into gardening because she loved nature and quickly realised that it was regarded by experts as a war against pests and diseases to be won at all costs, frequently at the expense of wildlife. Sally now has a mission in life which is to help gardeners of all levels understand that it is possible to do things differently in the garden and to challenge accepted practices, (for example we remember her ‘Gardening without plastic’ talk in May 2024). On Friday, 12th June her talk ‘A Rogue’s Gallery for Gardeners (Sustainability)’ identified the most commonly encountered rogues i.e. pests and diseases, and then provided ways to tackle them without reaching for toxic remedies.
Prevention is always better than cure so Sally recommends making it difficult for pests by setting up your garden differently.
- Everything wants to eat brassicas and creating a cage around them using Enviromesh instead of netting, will prevent most pests while easily allowing light in.
- Use bran as a barrier around your plants to prevent slug damage.
- Put saucers under your pots and stand the pot on pot feet. Use copper tape around the rim which will deter slugs.
- Grow disease-resistant varieties e.g. Sarpo potatoes (will give a good crop and make great roasties); Mountain Magic tomatoes; club root resistant cauliflower.
Disease can be carried by you so Sally emphasised the importance of practising good hygiene:
- store pots in a different place, away from the greenhouse;
- clean the greenhouse at the end of the season;
- pests can overwinter in our warmer climate;
- clean pruners and loppers as you go.
Remember that your garden is part of a landscape eco-system. Sally suggests that we tolerate aphids in order to attract predators such as ladybirds, which will control the aphids. Toads and frogs eat pests. Bug sprays also kill the predators so it’s important to foster a balance in your garden. Growing flowers among your vegetables promotes a permaculture approach.
Check your plants every day and turn leaves over to check for eggs which may have been laid. Lupins are prone to aphid infestation but you can jetwash them off. Repeat as necessary. Make your own natural bug spray by soaking onion, chilli and garlic in water for a week, then spray. It makes plants unpalatable to pests. Nematodes are an effective way to combat slugs but they are expensive.
RHS lists the top pests as follows:
- Slugs and snails – there are about 20,000 in the average garden! They are not harmful to us but they will always eat baby plants and seedlings so don’t sow these direct into the garden.
- Vine weevil – the grubs eat the roots of plants. Sally suggested tipping out plants like strawberries and heucheras to check the roots, wash the roots and the pots and re-pot with fresh compost. Chickens love the grubs!
- Box tree caterpillar. Box grown naturally will suffer less infestation.
- Ants. They eat insects but not plants and they act as an early warning of aphids as aphids feed on plant sap, and during this process, they excrete a sugary liquid called honeydew. Ants are highly attracted to this honeydew, which serves as a significant food source for their colonies. Ants help to aerate the soil.
- Woolly aphid. Affects tree trunks and branches, notably on fruit trees.
Then there are diseases to contend with!
- Honey fungus. If you scrape the soil away you will find black mycelia. Remove the infected plant.
- Pear rust. This fungus attacks both pears and junipers. In fact, it needs both plants in order to complete its life cycle. Find the juniper nearby and you will find the cause. Remove the juniper carefully as the spores can travel quite a distance.
- Bacterial canker. Affects stone fruit trees.
- Rose black spot. Black spot is a fungus which mutates and cannot be resisted now. David Austin has discontinued some varieties because they are no longer resistant. More modern varieties are more resistant. Species roses such as Rosa rugosa do not suffer from black spot.
- Bracket fungi. Bracket fungi cause decay and rot in the heartwood of trees and produce bracket-shaped fruiting bodies on the trunk or main branches. These fungi usually lead to weakening and sometimes to the eventual breakage or fall of affected trees. Sally advises calling in the professionals to deal with this one.
Sally clearly has a great deal of experience in gardening ‘differently’ and she inspired us to think about changing our ingrained habits as well as thinking about nature before using pesticides. Much to ponder.