DOWNY MILDEW: Dirty Nails is suffering from an outbreak of downy mildew on his onions.

Instead of being lush, erect and shiny, the green leaves have a dull, greyish hue and are dying back from the ends. His entire onion bed is infected, with most plants looking distinctly off-colour.

Downy mildew is a potentially very damaging fungal infection which can strike at any time of the year, but the cool, damp conditions of a summer which is slow to start are ideal.

The earlier in the season it strikes, the smaller the onions will be, plus they are unlikely to be much good for storing. Dirty Nails is understandably very upset by this natural phenomenon, especially as there appears to be a secondary disease striking too, which is creating crispy brown patches on the leaves.

However, that is gardening, and vegetable growing especially can seem like a constant battle with the forces of nature. Dirty Nails has removed all the infected foliage to a fire site, which has created a lot more room between the plants.

He is hoping that sunshine now will radiate more freely amongst his crop and might slow down the attack.

Nevertheless, downy mildew spreads its spores via water-splash from rain and on the breeze, so his hopes are not high.

Recourse to heavy-duty chemicals is one avenue of action for the grower thus infected but Dirty Nails prefers to take a more relaxed option.

That is, even though the bulbs are small, to start eating the crop straight away. At least it won’t be wasted, and the lack of home-produced onions this coming winter can be overcome by purchasing them from more fortunate growers instead.

He plans to try again next season on a fresh site which has not grown onions, leeks, shallots, or garlic for at least two years.

A MUCH NEEDED PRESENT: Mrs Nails recently gave her husband some reinforced waterproof knee-pads as a birthday present. Knees do a lot of work when gardening, and Dirty Nails is wondering how he ever managed without them.

They make ’fine-tuning’ and fiddly jobs such as thinning seedlings or weeding close-in amongst a standing crop far more comfortable.

The position of a kneeling pad must be constantly adjusted, whereas strapped-on pads are there whenever weight is put on to those joints.

With the novelty unlikely to wear off, Dirty Nails is looking forward to hours of fun scrambling about in the veg patch on all-fours.

EXRACTS FROM DIRTY NAILS’ JOURNAL MID-SUMMER IN ST JAMES: “The finest show of elderflowers for many a summer illuminated the dusky Hangings on Solstice eve, their platters of flowers like offerings handed out by the trees, rocking ever so gently from the kiss of a warm breeze.

"Darkness quickened and a three-quarter moon lit up the sky like a silver sixpence being pushed through a slot. It had been one of the hottest days of the year, after building humidity for a day or two.

“In the morning, suddenly the sun had broken open the hazy trance and a big crystal-blue sky yawned wide enough to fit in everything. Plants in the greenhouse got heatstroke as their compost dried out.

"On the plot beetroot and spinach wilted at noon then revived in the evening. Swifts gathered in groups of up to a dozen, flew in squadron formation then exploded, scattering like celebratory black fireworks into screaming shards.

“The longest day awoke hazily too, at about 4am. A thin veil of gentle shroud was soon burnt away. 7am now and it is hot, the sky clear and wispy clouds set up high, cast like a loose net of swirling ether.

"Down below birds unleash and flowers unfurl. Flies come in and out of earshot like tiny Formula 1 racing cars,a whirling dervish of noisy in-your-face zigzagging.

"Chiffchaffs chiff and chaff plaintively from the wooded slope. A wren lets rip into mighty song from a rooftop aerial, continues the lung-burst in mid-flight, amazingly for one so minute, and never pauses until the magnificent volley is finished, hidden in a forest of lime.

“In the border, a glamorous Italian version of Lords and Ladies has opened out its whorl of lush green greenery to unsheathe a glistening, velvety-purple spike. It looks amazing, almost an exaggerated artist’s impression of what it should be.

But it really is like that, sexing up one corner of the garden next to a cattle trough full of green water, lily pads and frogs.”

JOBS TO DO IN THE GREENHOUSE: Water and liquid feed crops.

Check over for signs of pests and disease.

Keep well ventilated.

On the plot Liquid feed for outdoor tomatoes.

Cut off flowering shoots of rocket to encourage new fresh growth.

Thin carrots.

Tie-in climbing beans.

Generously water fruit trees and squashes.

Tie-in step-over apple trees to training wires.

Stake tomato plants.

Prune vine to within two leaf bracts of each grape bunch.

Tie sunflowers to supporting canes.

Second thinning for swedes.

Hand weed and hoe Radar onion bed.

Plant out Marathon calabrese.

Remove and burn leaves from onions which are showing signs of downy mildew (looking mouldy).

Sow Perfect 3 beetroot, Giant Winter spinach.

Water generously wherever you can.

A Vegetable Gardener's Year (ISBN 978 1 905862 22 1) by Dirty Nails is available from www.dirtynails.co.uk and good bookshops.