How to deal with diseases

Nip them in the bud before they spread

- Ruth Hayes

OUR plants should be growing well and we should be full of optimism for the gardening year ahead, but this is no time for complacency.

Diseases can swiftly appear and spread and time spent now making sure plants are healthy, is time not wasted.

We have a climbing rose that was affected by rose black spot last year. In autumn I cut away and disposed of infected growth, binned fallen leaves affected by the disease, and mulched the rose to bury any remaining spores before disinfecting my secateurs.

But it is back this year, so I have started treatment again, removing the worst eaves and spraying with fungicide, which will need reapplying several times throughout the season.

Because most plant diseases are airborne or carried in by insects, it is a miraculously blessed gardener who manages to get through the year without any ailing plants.