Kitchen Garden Forum

All the leaves on my squash plants are covered in mildew will it be alright to put these leaves on the compost heap or would it be better to take them to the council tip? Thanks

Hi Bren
All is well. Mildew spores are always with us and will form mildew very quickly given the right conditions. Because it's so widespread there is nothing to be gained by carefully disposing of infected leaves - compo them.
It doesn't affect the squash fruits which is one good thing about it. I do remove infected leaves from around fruits though mainly to let more light and air reach them.

John

All my mildewed courgette plants have now been consigned to the compost heap. The garden is beginning to look a bit tidier. The pea haulms also ended up there as soon as they started getting mildew. The compost heap gets very hot at this time of year especially when topped off with a load of hen hut cleanings so everything breaks down really fast and makes lovely compost.