HAVE your vegetables and flowers been struck down by the great Aminopyralid disaster?

David Barraclough’s have – and I suspect he is not the only one.

David, of Waterloo, has had potatoes and peas decimated by the lasting effects of this agricultural herbicide that has been causing problems for the last three years on allotments and gardens across Britain.

The unforeseen problem is that the chemical remains affective even after it has passed through the stomachs of animals eating treated grassland and can remain affective in the manure until it is eventually broken down by bacteria.

If you have imported any manure for your allotment or garden over the last six months, it is suggested that you test it by growing some tomatoes in a 50:50 mix of manure and compost and look out for distorted growth which is so typical of hormonal weedkiller damage.

If damage is seen, either leave the manure to decompose naturally for 12 months or incorporate it into your soil and leave the land fallow for six months to allow the weedkiller to be broken down by bacteria.

To investigate this problem further visit www.dowagro.com, www.pesticides.gov.uk or www.allotment.org.uk .

` Mr Taylor from Honley has a monster flower spike that has appeared from the centre of a spiky-looking plant in his garden.

At this time of year there are two plants that can do this and it is easy to confuse them.

Yucca filamentosa produces a tall spike that opens to show off its bell-shaped white flowers, each of which can be 5cms (2ins) long.

The other one, which is what I suspect Mr Taylor has, is Cordyline australis, with its broad panicles of tiny white flowers.

Both plants are on the boundary of hardiness with us in West Yorkshire, but seem to have survived the ravages of the cold weather that last winter threw at us.

Enjoy the flowers whilst they last – as I am sure the bees will – and then cut off the spike towards the end of September.

It is likely that the flowering process will cause the leading shoot to split into two or three shoots by this time next year, but eventually it will make for a more interesting specimen.

`Mrs Wilson from Netherthong has written to me about a new wonder fruit called Aronia.

She has read about it and it suggests that this fruit provides upwards to six times the anti-oxidants that blueberries and Goji berries can give us.

This native of Eastern North America, known commonly as the Chokeberry, is a close relative of Sorbus (Rowans and Whitebeams) and Pyrus (Pear). The shrub can reach up to 6 metres (20’) dependant upon species and produces an abundant crop of red or black edible berries in autumn.

Its health-giving properties were first used to help Russian astronauts survive in space, but it is now being grown commercially across Europe and can be found occasionally in supermarkets for all of us to enjoy.

To grow your own supply of this latest wonder fruit, visit www.findmeplants.co.uk or ask at your local garden centre.

If you have any questions or queries that you want help with or gardening-related subjects that you would like to discuss, why not write to me at Graham’s Gardening Questions, Features Office, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Queen Street South, Huddersfield, HD1 3DU.