Four years ago I was painting our garage doors. A peregrine falcon caught a wood pigeon and promptly crashed into the door next to the one I was painting. In the shock it let go of the pigeon which flew away. The falcon looked at me as if to say" it's YOUR fault" and then flew away. appar...

coincidentally I just watched a video clip on this subject here: m Not sure that I am ready to follow the advice yet myself as it would involve removing a lot of lower stalks and not leaving much else, but I might remove the first couple of branches during the week (especially since I had a severe c...

Hey Colin, I am having the same issue with my peas. I just presumed that they had exhausted their growth for the season and was going to rip them down and plant something else. I have a second batch growing around sweetcorn at the moment so I'll be interested to see whether or not they have the same...

I highly recommend a book on the subject of Colony Collapse Disorder that I have just finished reading called Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen. m It is a little US-centric, although it does talk about some of the pesticide issues in France, but is a great overview of bees, the history of beekeping, ...

Thanks Alan for the bee identification website. I hadn't realised there were quite so many varieties of bumble bee, and I find the difference between the honey bee and the wild bee quite difficult to spot when they're buzzing around quickly. And what is a Mason Bee? I feel really ignorant. Hey Prim...

As with Gerry I have used Amazon for years now without any problems whatsoever. They are a very reliable online merchant and have been around for years now, so fret no more. On top of this, if you are concerned just make sure you use a credit card and check your bill to ensure that it hasn't fallen ...

Here in Vancouver Canada it is snowing (which is highly unusual I must stress) and so all of my seedlings are indoors apart from some peas that I have out in a raised bed covered by a plastic tunnel. My last frost date here is April 15th so that will be the busiest time for me in terms of planting o...

you might be interested that the co-op has released a bee plan today:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02 ... rative.php

sounds like a step in the right direction, especially if the major supermarkets can be pressured into following suit.

Hi Primrose, I just purchased Black Beauty seeds and this is what they look like: m As you can see they do indeed look like a glossy-skinned variety. It is my first year growing aubergine (what I now refer to as eggplant since I moved to Canada), so unfortunately I cannot offer any growing tips, but...

my favourite quote along those lines is that "In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this." My one piece of advice would be to have a treat bag that you can rattle to make the cat come running. I know that it is going to be an indoor cat, but you'd be surpri...

yeah, I guess I am getting myself mixed up. It is mentioned here (m) that horizontal planting of tomato plants is an effective way of making plants stronger, but I guess it doesn't make too much of a difference until maybe the final planting outdoors. I tried this last year (my first year of plantin...

but surely the people who are removing those freedoms (if they are but let's argue that to be the inference of your post), were also born in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

I guess not everyone had the greatest childhood....

I for one enjoyed apple fights in a nearby orchard

one reason that you may want to re-pot, as opposed to introducing more soil, is that I am under the impression that when you re-pot it is a good idea to lay the root horizontally in order to encourage greater root growth than would otherwise be the case. can anyone back me up on that, or is this inf...

that is a beautiful part of BC, further in the interior than me. Hot summers there means that it has quickly turned into BC's wine region, and very good they are too. I may be slightly bias in that tho' as I try to drink and eat locally where possible, so we mainly drink BC wines

good stuff! I'll have to pop by the marina and ask your Dad where he gets his plant supplies as I find it quite difficult to get native plants in my area

and a good day to you too!