And there they were - gone

I've now accepted the inevitable and binned the courgettes. I'm pretty sure it's mosaic virus they've got. The symptoms are yellow, withered leaves and stunted growth. Although my courgettes weren't withered they were very yellow and growing very slowly. According to Google fruit from infected plants doesn't make good eating so I've cut my losses.

Apparently I now can't plant the infected spot with courgettes for a year which is a shame. If our allotment plan comes together we should be ok though as we can plant courgettes there next spring. I've also washed my tools in hot, soapy water to kill any virus hanging around on them.

Rachel has very kindly stepped into the breach and offered me one of her courgette plants, I'm going to plant it in a bag of compost and sit it on top of the infected soil so the plant isn't growing directly in it. I've replaced my potted courgette with more strawberry plants and hopefully there will also be borlotti and french bean seedlings to throw into the mix.

Sadly, my troubles don't end there. My healthy borlotti bean in the front garden has suffered an injury of some sort and it's growing shoot has broken off so it won't grow any taller. The seeds I planted aren't showing any signs of coming up. Personally, I suspect the portly sparrow perched on the chard tubs has got something to do with that, my evidence being the holes in the ground where the seeds used to be. When I finally plant out the bean seedlings from the back garden, I'm going to have to construct yet more netting swathed structures around the place. Sigh.