This week in Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden we will be carrying out some essential surgery on our beautiful box hedges. Over the past few weeks we have watched in horror as our hedges have succumbed to the dreaded box blight.
It began as a small chocolate brown circle on one hedge and has rapidly spread. We sent some samples off to be tested and this week received the devastating news that it is definitely blight. The mood has been very sombre as the news has sunk in that the hedges defining the garden are now in grave danger.
We are always very careful to practise good hygiene with our hedges, never complacent that our plants were immune. Our shears and tools are always cleaned and disinfected after they have been used.
We have box in various parts of the garden and we always take great care to use sterile tools on each one. Our plants are fed regularly with seaweed throughout the growing season to try to keep them healthy and, hopefully, more resistant.
I have read about box blight, seen pictures of it and watched TV reports about it. However, nothing prepares you for the voracity of it once it hits your own garden. It has been horrifying to watch, powerless, how fast it has devoured our hedges.
This week we will cut out all the affected growth, collect as much plants debris as we can, and burn it. We can only hope hat the oncoming cold weather will slow its progress and that the structure of the garden can be saved.
