Hi Franksmum

Enjoy your Girls when they arrive. I have had mine for 18 months now and they are well and truly part of the family. They each have their own little characteristics and habits, I love them.

Kate

My thoughts exactly. Funny how people don't think it works both ways isn't it?

Thank Johnboy, I thought of that, if it had been the allotment then I would have thought so as we have muntjack there, but not in the garden, in a suburb of town. Thought it might be cats but they would leave the wood abit soggy and chewed. However I will soak the ground and see what we see, it migh...

Bit of a late reply this, you may already be sorted. I looked at an eglu and then went for a wooden house. I clean the night droppings out each morning, clean the whole lot out and scrub it out once a month. It works fine. Whatever you decide the hens always need more run space than is provided. A n...

Me again - same allotment holder who lost his cherries then put a sign on his grapes to say they were sprayed and should not be eaten or they may cause a stomach upset - not true as he is organic but he didn't loose his grapes

Kate

Hi I lost all my gooseberrys last year, one day they were there and the next when my friend went to get them they were gone. All of them, the whole bush. Other allotment holders said birds but I say not. I agree that birds would drop a few or leave a few not clear the whole bush. Also a neighbouring...

Hi I started my Goji Berry's plants off in pots and they were growing strongly. I have now transplanted them onto the veg patch in the garden and something is eating them! Not just the leaves which could be slugs or snails but the leaves and the woody stems. When they were in a pot they were fine, i...

Last year I grew Countess F1 from Dobies and got my best crop ever, I have had success with Tender and True in the past but couldn't get them last year so had countess instead. I am going for Countess again this year to see if they are as good.

Kate (& Gerty)

Hi Chantel, no I haven't found that a problem, I tease the bottom of the paper pot open and 'plant' it in the ground and off they go. If they have really fine roots there I open up the side of the paper pot slightly to let them grow down. Haven't tried it for carrots yet, they are the one thing I ca...

Thanks OldHerbaceous, I am going to move them to their new quarters next weekend, weather permitting, so I will try that and see how they do


AllotmentKate

I use one of the paperpot makers from organic gardening catalogue, you can get 20 pots in a standard seedtray and 10 in a smaller one. Once filled with compost with a little falling in between the pots they help keep each other damp. I use them for parsnips, carrots, celery, celariac, fennel, beetro...

Hi I have 2 blueberry bushes which I have had for more years than I can remember. They are currently in large pots of ericacous compost but I am about to move them to a purpose built raised bed for all my fruit that prefers this medium. Growth on the blueberries is sparce - how do I regenerate them?...

I went to check my beehive on Boxing Day and it was empty! I didn't have my hive tool with me as I hadn't intended opening the hive so couldn't look through it properly but could see something was wrong as soon as I got there and on opening the roof could see there were no bees between the frames. A...

Hi Chantel and Alan Thank you both. I'm glad to read that you thought Sussex were good layers too Chantel. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens next year. Strange that she stopped laying in August. She is a fantastic little character so I wouldn't change her for the world. And I gue...

On the topic of fertile eggs - I recently gave my sister a double yolker for her children as I thought they would find it fun. My nephew was totally tramatised by it, he thought if it had hatched the resulting chicken would have had 2 heads. We reassured him. However it did raise another question - ...