I haven’t been out in the garden much lately, but last week I noticed that the taro plants in the Grow Dome were suffering from aphids and sooty mould – some of the leaves looked pretty dirty.
On Christmas Eve the weather was lovely – bright and mild – and while the chickens got to work in their giant dust bath I cleaned up the taro. I wiped the leaves down with a cloth and a solution of eco-friendly bug spray, the idea being that wiping would remove the sooty mould and the liquid would kill off the aphids.
How well it will work, and whether a second application will be necessary, remains to be seen – but for the moment the taro leaves certainly look much cleaner.
According to Amazon, ‘Growing Stuff’ will be published on 20th February 2009. There’s a little bit more information about the book on the Black Dog Publishing website.