We’ve talked about common garden pests and how to avoid them and we want to introduce you to some common diseases you may find in your garden, what to look for and how to control them. There is a lot to cover so this blog will come in two parts.

We don’t use artificial chemicals at The Lady Gardener Team so this series will cover non-chemical control to help tackle these unwanted garden diseases.
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‍Rust

‍This common fungal disease can cause issues on a wide range of plants – including trees, shrubs, bedding plants, bulbs, herbaceous plants and vegetables.

Rust looks unsightly and can also affect the vigour of your plants. In extreme cases it can even kill the plant so it’s best to avoid it if you can.

Keep an eye out for brown, white, orange or yellow spots appearing on leaves. You’ll normally see these appearing in mid to late summer and autumn. If leaves are badly infected they will turn completely yellow and eventually fall off.

Help slow down the spread of the disease by removing infected leaves. Be careful not to remove too many though, you don’t want to cause more damage to the plant!

Where possible choose resistant cultivars – your local garden centre will be able to advise you.

When the growing season is finished remove all plant material and ensure you dispose of it responsibly – and don’t compost it!

‍Powdery Mildew

‍Another unsightly fungal disease that leaves a white dusty-looking coating on leaves, stems, flowers and fruits. It affects a wide range of plants including:

• Apples
• Peas
• Courgettes
• Delphiniums
• Roses
• Sweet Peas

It is important to note there are different varieties of powdery mildew so the mildew that affects your rose will be different to the one infecting your apple tree.

Look out for spreading white pores affecting most of the plant.

Keep powdery mildew under control by destroying fallen leaves in autumn to help stop the spread of fungal pores.

When you spot infected stems, prune these out to stop the disease getting in contact with the rest of the plant.
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Check seed packets for resistant cultivars.

Manage the environment you choose to plant in by allowing plenty of sunshine, avoid planting against walls where there is less air movement, provide plenty of drainage, don’t plant too densely and water at the base of the plant to stop water splashing onto foliage and giving the fungi spores the conditions they need to thrive!

Box Blight

This disease only affects box plants (Buxxus Sempervirens) and causes patches and die-back. It is hard to manage the disease once it takes hold so ensure you get the right diagnoses before tackling box blight.

Keep an eye out for leaves turning brown and then leading to bare patches. Young stems will show black streaks and eventually die back. It is also worth checking the underside of leaves in wet conditions which will show masses of white spores.

Before planting a box plant, keep your plant in isolation for a minimum of four weeks to ensure that it is not infected.

Avoid trimming the plant very often as this will encourage growth to be more dense, resulting in less air circulation.

Mulch around the base of the plant to stop splash-back from rain.

Remove fallen infected leaves and strip back the top layer of soil – bag it and bin it responsibly!

If your plant does become infected, dig it out and destroy it. Do not compost infected plants!!

We hope you found this helpful for keeping an eye out for any diseases around your garden. Keep an eye out for part two next month!