[Anton]

Hullo allotmenteers,

I've just found that one of the lettuces I planted about three weeks ago has caught the lurgy (gone soft and wilting). I presume it's contracted some fungal disease. I had the same thing last year and dug it up and put in another lettuce. Is this a wise policy? Are the other lettuces at risk?

This mesh people are talking about. Can I just drape it over the seedlings/plants and hold it down with stones or do I have to make some elaborate frame?

Last year I set to thinning with gusto, but was a bit too hasty in some cases: I thinned out only to find some of the young plants wiped out by slugs and insects - should I thin gradually (I saw some recommendation about using scissors with root vegetables to avoid disturbing their roots, any wisdom in this?).

Somebody was talking about potatoes being fattening the other day. I read something many years ago to the effect that fresh potatoes are not really weight-inducing. They gradually produce starch to prolong their survival (keeping qualities) and it is this that makes them fattening. I don't know if that 's right or wrong and I don't really care because I'm thin. Just thought it might provide some solace to the person here who expressed concern about eating too many spuds.

Anton

[Aidy]

I tend to use cloches over my lettuce as I feel fleece types dont allow good airflow, at the moment my lettuce are uncovered and have survived what frost we have had at night, in fact everyone on the plots who have lettuce in are uncovered.

[Jeanieblue]

I used fleece on the broad beans planted last November, and it bent them - I now have a row of L shaped plants, if you can picture that. Was it because I fixed the fleece in place with stones so that it didn't blow away?

[Annie]

You could try plastic bottle cloches for newly planted lettuce,or anything else,just remember to leave the top off and take the cloch off to water.
Not sure why your lettuces are fading ,hope you`re not replanting in the same place or it could just be temprature.

[Sadgit]

I have fleece just draped over my rockets and gems, doing the job so far and keeping the critters, pigeons off