Help, my garden needs a detox!

Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to solve your dilemmas! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden. This week: how to cleanse diseased garden soil.

Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!

Q: I have a veggie patch that was great. However the past two seasons I keep getting a mould/ rust sort of growth that is destroying my plants. Any idea how I go about cleansing the soil? –Lee-Anne

A: It sounds to me like your problem is powdery mildew. This is a fungal infection that thrives in the veggie garden towards the end of summer, especially in humid conditions.

You can deter powdery mildew by ensuring there is good airflow between your plants. When planting, space your veggies so they are not overcrowded. It is also important to water the ground around each plant and not the foliage as this can create humidity for the fungi to thrive on.

You can try spraying with copper or a baking soda solution but from my experience once it has taken over it’s probably time to give the garden a good clear out. Rip out all the infected plants and burn them so that the spores are destroyed. Then rejuvenate your soil with a scattering of lime and sheep pellets before you plant your autumn veggies.

–Zoe Carafice

Lee-Anne has won a bottle of Seasol from Tui Garden Products! Seasol is a seaweed-based plant tonic that has been used by Australian and New Zealand commercial growers and home gardeners for over 30 years.

The naturally occurring growth stimulants in Seasol promote strong root growth, reduce transplant shock, improve germination rates and increase flowering and fruiting capacity.