This is the first year I've seriously grown vegetables, and am wondering if I've not prepared the ground well enough, or if I should add some kind of fertiliser?

I have beetroot growing (sown in compost, transplanted in bed after frosts), they seem plump enough, not nibbled at all, but have started to go yellow on the leaves. Is this normal? I wondered if they would benefit from a bit of fertiliser, and how I would best go about doing that. Or is is some kind of disease?

I have been using tomato feed on hanging basket tomatoes because they started to go yellow with brown patches on the leaves. Is this some kind of disease? They are starting to set tomatos now, and I read somewhere to feed every 4 days once they do this.

Any advice gratefully recieved!

hi Lilqueenie, I think yellowing is a sign of magnesium deficiency. But first, do you think you are watering them enough ? We've had a mixture of sunny days and very windy weather which will strip the moisture from the soil.

I use a liquid seaweed feed for my veggies and also tomato feed. If you can get hold of some comfrey leaves you can make an excellent homemade feed by steeping them in water.

I don't know - perhaps not. We have very clay-y soil, so it is damp quite a lot. I'll see if they perk up any after tonights rains! They are in quite a windy place which might ahve dried them out.

If they don't improve then I'll try some seeweed feed or magnesium booster - thanks for the tip

Beetroot are my favourite - I don't want them to fail - they look tasty!

Quickest way to restore magnesium is Epsom salts (organically acceptable). Use at 20 grams per litre of water and spray the leaves diresctly with as fine a spray as you can get away with (foliar feed). You'll need repeated applications over the growing season. Have you thought about rock dust to replenish the magnesium and other macro/micro nutrients. See http://www.seercentre.org.uk/