Don't forget raspberries are shallow rooting and don't like their roots to dry out, so they may not be happy there. The mediterranean herbs should all love it, and I've visions of James Martin lounging in the sunshine among the herbs.

I'm afraid my Yard Long beans only produced one pod, and that wasn't very long. They like nice warm weather, so last year was hopeless for them.

Quite possibly Pongeroon, it conjures up quite a picture.

I try to buy organic oranges if I intend to use the peel. I give all fruit a good scrub anyway before using it whether it is organic or not - you never know who has handled it, or what has been sprayed on it. My mother used to say "the people who picked it might not have washed their hands afte...

I'm sorry you've had such problems. I agree that it wouldn't be fair to get any more hens until you are sure you can keep the fox out. I suppose the only other thing is an electric fence, but that isn't something I would want. We are lucky that our foxes are definitely night time ones, although we o...

You've reminded me to have a look at my seed potatoes stored in the shed. I keep them covered in a layer of insulation like the stuff they make duvets from, but sometimes they start sprouting early. If any are determined to send out shoots I take them out of their net bags and plant them in the gree...

I share your optimism Alan, I will get more than one aubergine in 2009.

Happy New Year everyone from an ice crystal covered Yorkshire. Even the spider webs are strung like sparkling necklaces today and the Silverbirch is beautiful.

I use my shreddings as paths to divide up my veg beds. They rot down in a couple of years and can be dug in and are always full of worms, so you can have moveable paths if you want different sized beds - just start a new path with your new shreddings, or top up the existing ones if you want to keep ...

We have a fox that keeps checking out my chickens, but so far I've been lucky and make sure they are fastened in their hut by dusk. It ate all my neighbours pekin bantams though when he forgot to fasten the door. I wondered if you had seen the automatic bob-hole closing devices. There is one, I thin...

Bay trees are quite amenable to pruning. My father had one that was about 12 ft wide by 12 ft high and I reduced it to one fairly straight stem and clipped the top over a few months to a ball shape and it was fine. They do make suckers at the base rather readily though and you need to keep removing ...

Hi G B G, you sound just like my Dad - he loved a nice stinky bonfire that smouldered for days.

I go for a quick burn after drying them (not possible this year, or last), or sealing the weeds in black plastic bags until they are completely broken down after a year or more.

I just dig some up when I want to use it, I don't know if there is a special time to do it, but the plants are fine with this treatment.

We had gales last night and I've been retrieving pots, and lids and standing up everything that had blown over. It had blown lots of twigs and small branches off the silver birch tree, and even blown the feeder out of the pear tree. The main pole with all the fat blocks and other feeders on was at a...

Hi all, I'm beginning to enjoy this Christmas for the first time for ages. We don't have to make a special effort as we don't have any small children in the family, and relatives are thin on the ground now, so we've agreed we neither of us want any presents, and we aren't going to bother buying any ...

I've not used beans for drying and am interested in your method of freezing them instead of just storing them dry.

Does this save time on having to soak them before cooking?